Dr. Maren Nattermann - Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg

(Re) routing one-carbon molecules in synthetic pathways – working in- and outside of host metabolism
Engineered microbes offer exciting new opportunities for the sustainable production of value-added chemicals from cheap feedstock. In contrast to traditional chemical synthesis, they do not require high temperatures, pressure, or toxic solvents. One-carbon substrates, such as carbon dioxide, formate and methanol, are prime candidates for sustainable substrates. However, they provide little to no energy to the cell, demanding highly efficient assimilation pathways. To mirror this efficiency in synthetic one-carbon assimilation, pathways must be compatible with host metabolism. They cannot deplete key metabolic intermediates, or disrupt the cellular energy balance. Here, we discuss two strategies of implementing a formate reduction module in E. coli – growth-coupling, forcing adaptation to host metabolism by applying evolutionary pressure, and orthogonality, producing value-added compounds directly from formate without any integration into core metabolism.

Prof. Daniel Schindler, University of Heidelberg