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Alkane production by the marine cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. NKBG15041c possessing the α-olefin biosynthesis pathway

  • Bioenergy and biofuels
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Abstract

The production of alkanes in a marine cyanobacterium possessing the α-olefin biosynthesis pathway was achieved by introducing an exogenous alkane biosynthesis pathway. Cyanobacterial hydrocarbons are synthesized via two separate pathways: the acyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) reductase/aldehyde-deformylating oxygenase (AAR/ADO) pathway for the alkane biosynthesis and the α-olefin synthase (OLS) pathway for the α-olefin biosynthesis. Coexistence of these pathways has not yet been reported. In this study, the marine cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. NKBG15041c was shown to produce α-olefins similar to those of Synechococcus sp. PCC7002 via the α-olefin biosynthesis pathway. The production of heptadecane in Synechococcus sp. NKBG15041c was achieved by expressing the AAR/ADO pathway genes from Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942. The production yields of heptadecane in Synechococcus sp. NKBG15041c varied with the expression level of the aar and ado genes. The maximal yield of heptadecane was 4.2 ± 1.2 μg/g of dried cell weight in the transformant carrying a homologous promoter. Our results also suggested that the effective activation of ADO may be more important for the enhancement of alkane production by cyanobacteria.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by JST, CREST.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biotechnology and Life Science, Institute of Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Koganei, Tokyo, Japan

    Tomoko Yoshino, Yue Liang, Daichi Arai, Yoshiaki Maeda, Toru Honda, Masaki Muto, Natsumi Kakunaka & Tsuyoshi Tanaka

  2. JST, CREST, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Tomoko Yoshino & Daichi Arai

Authors
  1. Tomoko Yoshino
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  2. Yue Liang
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  3. Daichi Arai
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  4. Yoshiaki Maeda
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  5. Toru Honda
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  6. Masaki Muto
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  7. Natsumi Kakunaka
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  8. Tsuyoshi Tanaka
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Correspondence to Tsuyoshi Tanaka.

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Yoshino, T., Liang, Y., Arai, D. et al. Alkane production by the marine cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. NKBG15041c possessing the α-olefin biosynthesis pathway. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 99, 1521–1529 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-6286-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-6286-2

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