Riboflavin synthesis from gaseous nitrogen and carbon dioxide by a hybrid inorganic-biological system
Microbes can provide a more sustainable and energy-efficient method of food and nutrient production compared to plant and animal sources, but energy-intensive carbon (e.g., sugars) and nitrogen (e.g., ammonia) inputs are required. Gas-fixing microorganisms that can grow on H from renewable water spl...
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Published in | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 119; no. 37; p. e2210538119 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
National Academy of Sciences
13.09.2022
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Microbes can provide a more sustainable and energy-efficient method of food and nutrient production compared to plant and animal sources, but energy-intensive carbon (e.g., sugars) and nitrogen (e.g., ammonia) inputs are required. Gas-fixing microorganisms that can grow on H
from renewable water splitting and gaseous CO
and N
offer a renewable path to overcoming these limitations but confront challenges owing to the scarcity of genetic engineering in such organisms. Here, we demonstrate that the hydrogen-oxidizing carbon- and nitrogen-fixing microorganism
grown on a CO
/N
/H
gas mixture can overproduce the vitamin riboflavin (vitamin B
). We identify plasmids and promoters for use in this bacterium and employ a constitutive promoter to overexpress riboflavin pathway enzymes. Riboflavin production is quantified at 15 times that of the wild-type organism. We demonstrate that riboflavin overproduction is maintained when the bacterium is grown under hybrid inorganic-biological conditions, in which H
from water splitting, along with CO
and N
, is fed to the bacterium, establishing the viability of the approach to sustainably produce food and nutrients. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Author contributions: R.S.S., P.A.S., and D.G.N. designed research; R.S.S. performed research; R.S.S. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; R.S.S., P.A.S., and D.G.N. analyzed data; and R.S.S., P.A.S., and D.G.N. wrote the paper. Contributed by Daniel Nocera; received June 18, 2022; accepted July 28, 2022; reviewed by Markus W. Ribbe and Shelley D. Minteer |
ISSN: | 0027-8424 1091-6490 |
DOI: | 10.1073/pnas.2210538119 |