Indigoidine production from CO2 by Cupriavidus necator in gas bioreactor.

• Grant number: 23/15839-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: February 01, 2024
• End date: July 24, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Molecular Biology
• Principal Investigator: Danielle Biscaro Pedrolli
• Grantee: Almiro Pires da Silva Neto
• Supervisor: Stephane Guillouet
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCFAR). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse (INSA Toulouse), France
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/05605-7 - Development of a platform for sustainable production of blue pigment from carbon fixation, BP.MS

Abstract

The consequences of climate change are forcing society to make a transition from a fossil-based economy to a sustainable bioeconomy. Gases produced by industrial activity are important pollutants contributing to greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere and causing changes in global temperatures. A promising route for reducing the rate at which these gases accumulate is to use them as raw materials to produce bioproducts in gas fermentation. Gas fermentation has a low carbon footprint and does not require land use. Cupriavidus necator is the bacterial strain we chose to produce the blue pigment indigoidine based on its capacity to grow using CO2 as the sole carbon source and H2 as the energy source in the presence of oxygen. Gas fermentation using H2 in the presence of O2 imposes some challenges because the mixture is explosive and requires specialized equipment to handle and monitor the bioreactor under safe conditions.