We have been developing an electrofuels platform using Acidothiobacillus ferrooxidans which are chemolithoautotrophic bacteria that can oxidize iron at low pH.  The oxidized iron can be reduced electrochemically and recycled to the bioreactor, creating a platform where carbon dioxide can be reduced and incorporated into fuels and/or chemicals using electricity.  We have extensively characterized the growth of the wild type Acidothiobacillus ferrooxidans cells in continuous cultures and we have found that the use of chelators such as citric acid can enable growth at higher pH ranges which can reduce the maintenance coefficient and improve specific growth rates, maximum cell yields, and steady state cell densities.  We have also developed a platform for genetically modifying the Acidothiobacillus ferrooxidans cells and we have now expressed 4 different exogenous genes in this host.  This is enabling us to explore new promoters and regulatory sequences to direct flux through new synthetic metabolic pathways.  For example, we have introduced a pathway for isobutyric acid production and the results of the characterization of these new cell lines will be presented.

Engineering <i>Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans</i> for electrofuel production

247th National Meeting (2014)

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Engineering Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans for electrofuel production