Present approaches to engineering microbes for cellulosic biofuel production are based on a �superbug� paradigm of incorporating all required functionalities into a single organism, an endeavor that has hitherto proven to be difficult. Inspired by the widespread occurrence of synergistic microbial communities in nature, we explore a novel alternative direction for microbial engineering: the design and construction of a synthetic microbial consortium consisting of multiple species which cooperate to directly convert cellulose to biofuel. Three microbial specialists are utilized in the consortium: a cellulolytic specialist, which secretes cellulase enzymes to hydrolyze lignocellulose into component hexose and pentose mono/oligosaccharides, and engineered hexose and pentose specialists, which each ferment their respective carbon sources to biofuel products. We use ecology and evolutionary theory as a framework to design stability and tunability into the consortium.  As a proof-of-concept, we construct a consortium capable of directly converting cellulose to isobutanol, a promising next-generation biofuel.

Engineering a synthetic microbial consortium for efficient production of biofuels

241st National Meeting (2011)

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