Development of a platform for sustainable production of blue pigment from carbon fixation

• Grant number: 22/05605-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2023
• End date: January 24, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Molecular Genetics and Genetics of Microorganisms
• Principal Investigator: Danielle Biscaro Pedrolli
• Grantee: Almiro Pires da Silva Neto
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCFAR). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/15839-8 - Indigoidine production from CO2 by Cupriavidus necator in gas bioreactor., BE.EP.MS

Abstract

The imminence of climate change has put pressure on the transition from a fossil fuel-based economy to a sustainable bioeconomy. The gases produced by industries are important pollutants in the process of atmospheric gas accumulation and global temperature increase. A promising route for reducing the emission of these gases is their use as feedstock for the production of bioproducts using gas fermentation, with a low carbon footprint, reduced land use, and economic potential. Cupriavidus necator is a bacterium capable of growing from various carbon sources such as sugars, fatty acids, amino acids, and also CO2 by the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle. Compared to other microorganisms, the species has the highest efficiency in the transformation of H2 into biomass as well as in CO2 fixation and does not suffer from the thermodynamic and technological limitations of plant and cyanobacterial-based bioproduction systems. We have chosen indigoidine as the bioproduct to be produced through CO2 fixation. Indigoidine is a natural blue dye alternative to indigo dye that is chemically produced from the toxic compound aniline. Given the demand for sustainable alternatives to traditional chemical production and the industrial demand for low-impact natural dyes, this project aims to create a strain of C. necator for the production of indigoidine from carbon fixation.