Modified Cyanobacteria for Competitive Sugar Production
Some of the highest glycogen production rates ever reportedFor the first time, cyanobacterial sugar production may compete with conventional practices.
The modified strains could be freeze dried, lysed and used as a sugar source for many fermentation reactions including biofuel/biochemical productionCould supplant or complement the use of biomass as a sugar source
Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic microorganisms capable of producing far more sugar per acre than corn, sugarcane or sugar beet. Unlike other bacteria and yeast, cyanobacteria use atmospheric CO2 as their main carbon source. Moreover, the organism lends itself well to genetic modification, requires minimal nutrition and can be cultivated in locations that do not compete with food crops.For these reasons cyanobacteria continue to be explored as an alternative sugar source for the production of biofuel and industrial feedstocks. For example, they produce and store glycogen that can be converted to ethanol or other chemicals through known saccharification and fermentation processes.While the cost of growing cyanobacteria is currently higher than growing corn, the advancement of new strains and techniques has the potential to compete on price.UW–Madison researchers have developed strains of Synechococcus sp. Strain PCC 7002 with the highest reported glycogen or starch production rate of any cyanobacteria or algae. The strains are genetically modified to overexpress a glucose-1-phosphate adenylyltransferase.
WARF reference number P120017US02 describes cyanobacteria genetically modified to tolerate 50-fold more organic acid.
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