Cyanobacteria as photoautotrophic biofactories of high-value chemicals

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2018

Abstract

Cyanobacteria were the first organisms to use oxygenic photosynthesis for converting carbon dioxide into useful organic chemicals. However, the chemical industry has historically relied on fossil raw materials to produce organic precursors and this has highly contributed to the current alarming levels of atmospheric CO2. Thus, cyanobacteria have emerged as an alternative to couple solar energy with biotechnological production. This review presents the potential application of cyanobacteria as solar biofactories of valuable chemicals. Here, the photoautotrophic metabolism is described as an integrated production process, in which fixated CO2 and N2 are essential raw materials processed through primary and secondary metabolic reactions powered by light-derived chemical energy. Large scale application of cyanobacterial biofactories is still a technical challenge due to low yields and commoditization of biotechnological products. However, the development of feasible cyanobacterial biofactories can be enhanced through synthetic biology efforts relying on the natural ability of cyanobacteria to synthesize carbohydrates and peptides. Among these, sugars, phycobiliproteins, cyanophycin and diverse bioactive secondary metabolites are important from an economic point of view because they can be used as raw materials for specialty organic chemicals and drugs.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Journal of CO2 Utilization

First Page

335

Last Page

366

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