KAIST 생명과학과동창회
  • News & Events
  • News

News

November 19, 2020

Newly discovered metabolic pathway uses single carbon gases as a feedstock

by




18-newlydiscove.jpg


Figure 1. Acetyl-CoA production ratio in wild-type and knockout strains. Credit:  


A joint research team, affiliated with UNIST has identified a new metabolic pathway, in which microorganisms use single carbon (C1) gasses (CO and CO2) as a feedstock. The new metabolic pathway is thought to be the most energetically efficient pathway, compared to the existing ones, and thus is expected to be used in a variety of industrial applications that involved the conversion of C1 gas into value-added biochemicals.


Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, this research has been jointly carried out by Professor Donghyuk Kim (School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, UNIST) and Professor Byung-Kwan Cho (Department of Biological Sciences, KAIST), joined by Dr. Yoseb Song (Department of Biological Sciences, KAIST) as the first author.

There are currently six autotrophic CO2 fixation pathways, capable of converting C1 gas into and one representative example is the photosynthesis in plants. Among those CO2-fixing in nature, the linear wood-ljungdahl (WLP) in phylogenetically diverse acetateforming acetogens is known to be the most energetically efficient pathway to fix C1 compounds. In particular, acetogens play an important role in the , with nearly 1,013 kg (100 billion US tons) of acetic acid being formed annually.


However, the growth rate of acetogens is 10 times slower than that of industrial microorganisms, such as E. coli. And this puts a limit on its use as industrial microorganisms for the conversion of C1 gas into useful biochemical products. Accordingly, many studies on a new and more effective CO2 fixation have been carried out.


19-newlydiscove.jpg

Figure 2. Construction of the genome-scale metabolic network model of C. drakei


The research team paid special attention to the growth rate of Clostridium drakei, which was faster than that of the other microorganisms, when accompanied by CO2 absorption. And, through this, they expected they might find clues to enhance the C1 gas conversion efficiency.


In this study, using the reconstructed genome-scale metabolic model iSL771 based on the completed genome sequence, transcriptomics, 13C isotope-based metabolite-tracing experiments, biochemical assays, and heterologous expression of the pathway in another acetogen, the research team discovered that the WLP and the glycine synthase pathway are functionally interconnected to fix CO2, subsequently converting CO2 into acetyl-CoA, acetyl-phosphate, and serine.


Moreover, the functional cooperation of the pathways enhances CO2 consumption and cellular growth rates via bypassing reducing power required reactions for cellular metabolism during autotrophic growth of acetogens.

"With the new CO2-fixing metabolic pathway, we shall overcome limitations in the biosynthesis for the production of high value-added compounds, brought by the slow growth rate of acetogens," says Professor Kim. 



https://phys.org/news/2020-11-newly-metabolic-pathway-carbon-gases.html


List of Articles
번호 제목 글쓴이 날짜 조회 수
350 정원석 교수님_KAIST, 신경세포의 흥분성 증가로 인한 뇌 질환 기제 규명 생명과학과 2021.06.03 1342
349 정원석 교수님_Astrocytes eat connections to maintain plasticity in adult brains 생명과학과 2020.12.28 1763
348 정원석 교수_ 삼성전자, ‘세계 알츠하이머의 날’ 맞아 연구원 노력 담은 영상 공개 생명과학과 2020.09.21 2585
347 전상용교수님_항암제 표적 단백질을 약물 전달체로 쓴다?​ file 생명과학과 2020.08.26 2869
346 전상용,이대엽 임성갑 교수, 암 줄기세포 제작 원천기술 개발 file 생명과학과 2018.11.30 6708
345 전상용, 송지준 교수님_다양한 변이에도 면역 가능한 인플루엔자 백신 개발 생명과학과 2021.06.30 708
344 전상용 교수님_Researchers review future directions of nanomedicine development 생명과학과 2020.12.28 984
343 전상용 교수님_ 면역항암제 효율 높인 나노입자 백신 개발 file 생명과학과 2020.06.17 3201
342 전상용 교수, 차세대 면역항암제 플랫폼 개발 위한 공동연구협약 체결 / Professor Sangyong Jon, make a research-cooperation contract for developing next-genreation anti-cancer drug platform 관리자 2016.01.08 16106
341 전상용 교수, 암 치료를 위한 새로운 펩타이드-항체 복합체(하이브리드) 기술 개발 file 생명과학과 2019.02.21 6076
340 전상용 교수, 몸 속 물질 이용한 염증 치료제 개발 / Prof. Sang-Yong Jon developed anti-inflammatory drug using biological materials 생명과학과 2016.06.15 19989
339 전상용 교수, Theranostics 저널 최다 피인용 논문상 수상 / Professor Sangyong Jon receives The Most Cited Paper Award by the “Theranostics” Journal 과사무실 2015.04.21 12499
338 전상용 교수, Cancer Research게제(2014.2) 과사무실 2014.03.12 13125
337 전상용 교수, ACS Nano 게재(2014.2) 과사무실 2014.03.12 12660
336 전상용 교수, 94회 일본화학회 정기학회 'Distinguished Lectureship Award' 수상 과사무실 2014.04.02 13028
335 전상용 교수, 2012년도 「글로벌연구실(GRL)」신규 지원과제에 선정! 과사무실 2012.08.17 12551
334 전상용 교수, 2009~2014 기초학문 약학분야 9위 선정 생명과학과 2016.10.04 15897
333 전상용 교수 연구팀, 금 알갱이로 항암백신을 만들다 과사무실 2012.08.17 11742
332 자연과학대학 우수 강의 교원 및 우수 직원 포상 과사무실 2007.03.29 10622
331 임정훈 박사 한국분자・세포생물학회 우수박사학위논문상 수상 과사무실 2004.09.09 14173
Board Pagination Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ... 22 Next
/ 22