December 2014
Optimizing production rates of cyanobacteria that have a “bright” future in biofuel synthesis
Results: Rapidly growing bacteria that live in the ocean and can manufacture their own food hold promise as host organisms for producing chemicals, biofuels, and medicine. Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and The Pennsylvania State University are closely studying one of these photosynthetic species of fast-growing cyanobacteria using advanced tools developed at PNNL to determine the optimum environment that contributes to record growth and productivity. Their work on how the cyanobacteria respond to different wavelengths of light, as critical resources, recently was featured in Frontiers in Microbiology.
PNNL and The Pennsylvania State University are studying Synechococcus, a promising cyanobacterium (the yellow-orange cells) that could be used to determine optimum growing conditions for biofuels.
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Why It Matters: Using biofuels based on cyanobacteria on an industrial scale could lower pollution levels from fossil fuels, provide a sustainable source of energy, and curb energy dependence. The challenge has been to find the right organism that can be cost-effectively grown quickly enough to meet industrial demand. The strain of cyanobacteria researchers studied, Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002, grows at rates that rank among the fastest reported for photosynthetic microorganisms. With a better understanding of how the cyanobacterium adapts to changing environmental conditions, researchers are able to optimize growth and productivity.
Scientists at PNNL compare culturing conditions in samples generated from a novel cultivation approach: binary cultivation in photobioreactors. The approach uses binary cultivation inside photobioreactors to facilitate growth by creating a closed system where the metabolic by-products of one organism are used to fuel metabolism in the other.
“Understanding the fundamental underpinnings that determine growth rates of cyanobacteria provides an insight into the biological blueprint of photosynthetic organisms,” said PNNL’s Dr. Alex Beliaev, the lead scientist on the project.
Dr. Hans Bernstein, a Linus Pauling Postdoctoral Fellow at PNNL who helped lead the study, added, “A deeper understanding of the basic biology for this organism is helping us develop solutions for efficient renewable energy production and will ultimately help us develop novel technologies based on microbial communities.”
See the full article here.
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Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is one of the United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, managed by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The main campus of the laboratory is in Richland, Washington.
PNNL scientists conduct basic and applied research and development to strengthen U.S. scientific foundations for fundamental research and innovation; prevent and counter acts of terrorism through applied research in information analysis, cyber security, and the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction; increase the U.S. energy capacity and reduce dependence on imported oil; and reduce the effects of human activity on the environment. PNNL has been operated by Battelle Memorial Institute since 1965.
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