Synthetic biology promises wide-ranging solutions to some of our most difficult technical challenges – including space travel. Applications of engineered microbes are wide ranging: from oxygen generation, fuel and building materials production, food and nutrition, and medicines. The major motivation for such applications is forward thinking, but most often predicated on the notion of cost or limited volume; however, a more urgent motivation is that certain important nutrients degrade quickly, and all possible needs cannot be anticipated. Future missions will benefit from flexible, programmable, low power, and sustainable manufacturing processes driven by waste, in situ resources, and solar energy. Synthetic biology is well suited for utilizing such ill-defined resources and reliably manufacturing both specific and complex molecules. I’ll discuss our work on the use of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering to develop Y. lipolyticaas a platform organism to produce omega-3 fatty acids and polyhydroxyalkonoates (PHAs) from fixed carbon dioxide, bioprocessing cellular waste, and human urine. Our work demonstrates that Y. lipolyticais not only capable of using urine as a nitrogen source but it also grows more efficiently and produces higher lipid concentrations. Furthermore, we achieved initial success in engineering omega-3 fatty acid production as well as PHA production from waste feedstocks. Current efforts focus on improving production titers and tailoring PHA monomer structure to alter materials properties. Together, our work moves us closer to biomanufacturing solutions for astronaut needs.

Synthetic biology: A key technology to enable long-term space exploration

2019 Spring National Meeting

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