Engineering the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus for 1-propanol production

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology and Metabolic Engineering
• Microbial Chemistry and Biofuels

Background:

• Societal reliance on fossil fuels for chemical production necessitates sustainable alternatives.
• Hyperthermophilic archaea, thriving at temperatures ≥80°C, present a promising platform for biomass conversion.
• Pyrococcus furiosus, a hyperthermophilic archaeon with an optimal growth temperature of 100°C, is explored for its potential in producing value-added chemicals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To engineer Pyrococcus furiosus for the conversion of sugar to 1-propanol.
• To establish a renewable, high-temperature biological system for chemical synthesis.
• To utilize genome-scale metabolic modeling for identifying optimization targets.

Main Methods:

• Constructed a hybrid metabolic pathway using native and heterologously expressed enzymes.
• Introduced eleven foreign genes from Thermoanaerobacter sp. strain X514 and Metallosphaera sedula.
• Employed a temperature-shifting strategy (95°C for growth, 75°C for production) to accommodate enzyme activity.

Main Results:

• Successfully engineered P. furiosus to produce 1-propanol from sugar.
• Achieved 1-propanol concentrations up to approximately 1 mM.
• Demonstrated that 1-propanol production required a temperature shift, not sustained high-temperature incubation.

Conclusions:

• Metabolic engineering of P. furiosus enables the production of 1-propanol from biomass.
• The developed high-temperature bioconversion system offers a renewable alternative to petrochemical processes.
• Genome-scale metabolic modeling identified key targets for future strain and process optimization.