Ralstonia eutropha as a chemolithoautotrophic chassis for biofuel production

Ralstonia eutropha is an aerobic bacterium that grows with CO2 as the sole carbon source and H2 as the sole electron donor while producing copious amounts of polyhydroxybutyrate. This poster discusses the development of Ralstonia eutropha as a chemolithoautotrophic chassis for the production of biofuels from CO2 and electrogenic H2. We demonstrate the application of synthetic biology tools to divert intermediates and metabolic flux from existing R. eutropha pathways into engineered, recently discovered pathways to produce favorable biofuels. Novel Mo-polypyridine catalysts that can convert water to hydrogen in neutral aqueous media were employed as chemical mediators to generate H2 from electrodes in the presence of engineered strains of R. eutropha. The engineered chemolithoautotrophic chassis provides a transformational new source of renewable liquid transportation fuels that extends beyond biomass-derived substrates.