An engineered pathway for the biosynthesis of renewable propane

Pauli Kallio, András Pásztor, Kati Thiel, M. Kalim Akhtar () and Patrik R. Jones ()
Additional contact information
Pauli Kallio: University of Turku
András Pásztor: University of Turku
Kati Thiel: University of Turku
M. Kalim Akhtar: University of Turku
Patrik R. Jones: University of Turku

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract The deployment of next-generation renewable biofuels can be enhanced by improving their compatibility with the current infrastructure for transportation, storage and utilization. Propane, the bulk component of liquid petroleum gas, is an appealing target as it already has a global market. In addition, it is a gas under standard conditions, but can easily be liquefied. This allows the fuel to immediately separate from the biocatalytic process after synthesis, yet does not preclude energy-dense storage as a liquid. Here we report, for the first time, a synthetic metabolic pathway for producing renewable propane. The pathway is based on a thioesterase specific for butyryl-acyl carrier protein (ACP), which allows native fatty acid biosynthesis of the Escherichia coli host to be redirected towards a synthetic alkane pathway. Propane biosynthesis is markedly stimulated by the introduction of an electron-donating module, optimizing the balance of O2 supply and removal of native aldehyde reductases.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms5731 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5731

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5731

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().