It is difficult to develop bioproduction strains that can compete economically with fossil fuels. One approach to make bioproduction more economical is to engineer organisms that can produce fuels as well as value added molecules. An excellent candidate for this is Chromochloris zofingiensis, a eukaryotic green algae that can accumulate up to 40% of dry weight in triacylglycerols. C. zofingiensis also produces astaxanthin, a ketocarotenoid with pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and cosmetic applications, as well as use in food and feed supplements. Moreover, the astaxanthin produced by C. zofingiensis is worth approximately $7,000 per kilogram. This is significantly more valuable than synthetic astaxanthin, due to stereochemical differences. In order to investigate the metabolic capacity of this organism for both fuel and astaxanthin production, we have reconstructed the metabolic network from the published genome. Our current reconstruction has 2880 metabolites, 3523 reactions, and 1422 genes, spread across 11 compartments. We have used the model to simulate both autotrophic growth and photoheterotrophic growth to calculate maximal yields and validated the model with experimental data. We will present our work to date and results of simulations to maximize the production of both products.

Genome-scale metabolic model of Chromochloris, an emerging model organism for sustainable fuel production

2019 Spring National Meeting

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