Engineering Yeast to Drive Cars The Road for the Cellulosome
Jeffrey Chen August 21, 2008 University of Texas Lab: Wilfred Chen
BRITE 2008 Presentation
Slide 2
Cars and Gasoline Demand and prices for oil have increased
Supply of oil is limited Figures left: (1), right: (2)
Slide 3
Biofuels Definition: liquid or gaseous fuel that is produced
predominately from biomass Advantages: Cleaner, more natural fuel
Readily available source, sustainable Alternative security to
petroleum Reference: (3)
Slide 4
Bioethanol Ethanol produced as fuel Wide-accepted use worldwide
currently; popular fuel Biomass obtained from any plant source with
cellulosic material (originally sugar cane / maize) Figure: (4)
Reference: (5)
Slide 5
Processing of Bioethanol Focuses on the natural fermentation
process: conversion of glucose into ethanol Current method (2 nd
gen), two parts: 1)Obtain the cellulose source and process it with
cellulases 2)Fermentation with yeast to produce ethanol
(distillation) Figures left: (10), middle: (11), right: (12)
glucose pyruvate ethanol
Slide 6
Disadvantages of Bioethanol Changes in bioethanol have shifted
to cellulosic ethanol production, but still not very efficient Not
competitive with gasoline yet Food crisis/famine currently Figures
-- left: (6), right: (7) References: (8), (9)
Slide 7
Improvements for Bioethanol More emphasis on cellulosic
ethanol; use of biomass Increasing efficiency of cellulase
digestion Consolidating the two processes** Reference: (13)
Slide 8
Costs: Consolidated Process Figure: (14)
Slide 9
Increasing Efficiency: The Cellulosome Cellulosome: complex of
enzymes that forms outside the cell for digestion Not
free-floating! Organized complex Can be specialized** Only found in
certain bacteria naturally Reference: mentor Shen-long Tsai
Slide 10
The Cellulosome Reference: mentor Shen-long Tsai Cellulase
Scaffoldin Cohesin Dockerin
Slide 11
The Cellulosome Reference: mentor Shen-long Tsai Cellulose
Reducing Sugars
Slide 12
The Cellulases Figures top/middle: (15), bottom: (16)
Endoglucanase Exoglucanase
Slide 13
The Cellulases Figures top/middle: (15), bottom: (16)
Endoglucanase Exoglucanase -glucosidase
Slide 14
Engineering Cellulases **Can be specialized new
cohesin/cellulase constructs Cloning Idea for New Constructs:
-glucosidase: BglA + DocGf / exoglucanase: CelS + DocCc Secretion
signal (with protein): MF1 + Gf protein Reference: mentor Shen-long
Tsai C F
Slide 15
Method: Cloning 1.Identify the insert(s) and vector to use
a)pET-24a b)protein: BglA c)cohesin: DocGf 2.Plan the order and
restriction enzymes needed a)Restriction enzymes: cut a palindrome
sequence of DNA b)Avoid restriction sites in inserts (destroys
it)
Reducing Sugar Prediction Time Glucose (OD) BglA + Ec + At Ec +
At Ec + BglA control
Slide 23
The Graph Figure: (14)
Slide 24
Future Work Run more varied conditions to express the Gf
construct Finish constructs; if successful, create new constructs
Perform growth curve, reducing sugar, and glucose level
experiments/measurements
Slide 25
References 1. Flickr. $2.299 [picture]. (August 2008) Available
at http://flickr.com/photos/69282447@N00/241986026 2. Crazy-jokes.
"Gas Pump #2" [picture]. (August 2008) Available at
http://blogs.e-rockford.com/applesauce/category/michael-bloomberg/
3. Demirbas, Ayhan (2006). Progress and recent trends in biofuels.
Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 33:1, 1-18.
doi:10.1016/j.pecs.2006.06.001 4. my-biodiesel.org. "Corn Fuel"
[picture] (August 2008) Available at http://my-biodiesel.org/web/
5. Wikipedia (2008). Bioethanol.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuel 6. Experiments using urine and
humus dervied from ecological toilets. Experimental maize field
under investigation [picture]. (August 2008) Available at
http://aquamor.tripod.com/KYOTO.htm 7. Wikipedia. Cornfield in
South Africa2 [picture]. (August 2008) Available at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Cornfield_in_South_Africa2.jpg
8. Wikipedia (2008). Ethanol fuel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioethanol 9. Rosegrant, Mark (2008).
Biofuels and Grain Prices: Impact and Policy Responses.
International Food Policy Research Institute.
http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/testimony/rosegrant20080507.pdf 10.
Masters Athlete Physiology & Performance. Lactate Threshold
[picture]. (August 2008) Available at
http://home.hia.no/~stephens/lacthres.htm 11. Wikipedia. "Pyruvic
acid 2D skeletal" [picture]. (August 2008) Available at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Pyruvic-acid-2D-skeletal.png 12.
Wikipedia. "Ethanol 2D skeletal" [picture]. (August 2008) Available
at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ethanol-2D-skeletal.svg 13.
Wikipedia (2008). Cellulosic ethanol.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulosic_ethanol 14. Lynd, Lee et al
(2005). Consolidated bioprocessing of cellulosic biomass: an
update. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 16:5, 577-583.
doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2005.08.009 15. Colebrook, Michael. Life
Chemistry. Cellulose [picture] (August 2008) Available at
http://www.greenspirit.org.uk/resources/LifeChemistry.htm 16.
Sci-toys. Lactose [picture]. (August 2008) Available at
http://sci-toys.com/ingredients/lactose.html 17. Novagen. "pET-24a"
[picture]. (August 2008) Available at
http://www.merckbiosciences.com/docs/docs/PROT/TB070.pdf 18. Queens
University of Charlotte. Recombinant DNA Technology [picture].
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Slide 26
Acknowledgements The BRITE program (NSF), Jun Wang, and UCR
Ph.D. candidate Shen-long Tsai Professor Wilfred Chen All of the
people in the Chen Lab All of the professors at UCR Others
Slide 27
Thank you!
Slide 28
Questions?
Slide 29
Engineering Yeast to Drive Cars The Road for the Cellulosome
Jeffrey Chen August 21, 2008 University of Texas Lab: Wilfred Chen
BRITE 2008 Presentation