The study of microorganisms that make fats and oils has significant potential to develop new routes for the production of sustainable fuels and chemicals of commercial significance. In particular, wax esters are a highly-valued class of oils used in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, fine lubricants, and fuels. Most commercial wax esters are synthesized from petroleum, and thus there is a growing interest in developing biological systems for the sustainable production of wax esters. The goal of this project is to characterize and modify enzymes involved in the biological synthesis of natural wax esters. The final enzyme in the wax ester production pathway is able to utilize a large array of substrates to produce either wax esters, or smaller esters with properties similar to biodiesel fuel. This project will explore the chemistry involved in these biological processes, and further aims to develop systems that alter the composition and enhance wax ester production using a model microorganism. The results of these studies will provide important insights into the enzymes and biochemical processes involved in these biological oil production pathways, and identify the broad diversity of products that can be produced utilizing sustainable biological production routes. The need for shift for a petroleum based fuels to sustainable fuels is a topic of interest by K-12 students the broader public, and the proposed activities include innovative activities for outreach to these groups based on the research activities, including Youtube videos.
The goal of this project is to develop fundamental understanding of lipid biosynthesis and accumulation in the model bacterium Marinobacter aquaeolei VT8. Enzymes obtained from this species have been found to be far more active than enzymes obtained from alternative hosts. The first aspect of the research is related to detailed studies of several key enzymes responsible for key steps in the biosynthesis of wax esters from the fatty acyl-CoA pool. This will include studies to alter enzyme substrate selectivity to tailor the production of specific compounds similar to biodiesel, and general studies probing structural features of these enzymes. The second aspect of the proposal deals with broader metabolism, and includes metabolic studies using RNA-sequence experiments to monitor changes in the cell under conditions of wax production versus wax degradation, both compared to growth under exponential growth where no waxes are being produced. Additionally, key genes will be deleted or altered to determine the effect this has on wax production, especially in light of the redundancy of many of the genes for the enzymes involved in this pathway. Finally, efforts to improve or alter the production and quantities of waxes produced will be pursued in terms of metabolic engineering of a model neutral-lipid accumulating bacterium. The need for shift for a petroleum based fuels to sustainable fuels is a topic of interest by K-12 students the broader public, and the proposed activities include innovative activities for outreach to these groups based on the research
