The limited supply of fossil resources demands the development of renewable alternatives to petroleum-based products. Here, biobased higher alcohols such as isobutanol are versatile platform molecules for the synthesis of chemical commodities and fuels. Currently, their fermentation-based production is limited by the low tolerance of microbial production systems to the end products and also by the low substrate flux into cell metabolism. We developed an innovative cell-free approach, utilizing an artificial minimized glycolytic reaction cascade that only requires one single coenzyme. Using this toolbox the cell-free production of ethanol and isobutanol from glucose was achieved. We also confirmed that these streamlined cascades functioned under conditions at which microbial production would have ceased. Our system can be extended to an array of industrially-relevant molecules. Application of solvent-tolerant biocatalysts potentially allows for high product yields, which significantly simplifies downstream product recovery.

The sustainable capture and conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) is key to achieving a circular carbon economy. Bioelectrocatalysis, which aims at using renewable energies to power the highly specific, direct transformation of CO2 into value added products, holds promise to achieve this goal. However, the functional integration of CO2‐fixing enzymes onto electrode materials for the electrosynthesis of stereochemically complex molecules remains to be demonstrated. Here, we show the electricity‐driven regio‐ and stereoselective incorporation of CO2 into crotonyl‐CoA by an NADPH‐dependent enzymatic reductive carboxylation. Co‐immobilization of a ferredoxin NADP+ reductase and crotonyl‐CoA carboxylase/reductase within a 2,2′‐viologen‐modified hydrogel enabled iterative NADPH recycling and stereoselective formation of (2S)‐ethylmalonyl‐CoA, a prospective intermediate towards multi‐carbon products from CO2, with 92±6 % faradaic efficiency and at a rate of 1.6±0.4 μmol cm−2 h−1. This approach paves the way for realizing even more complex bioelectrocatalyic cascades in the future.

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The measurement of yeast's intracellular pH (ICP) is a proven method for determining yeast vitality. Vitality describes the condition or health of viable cells as opposed to viability, which defines living versus dead cells. In contrast to fluorescence photometric measurements, which show only average ICP values of a population, flow cytometry allows the presentation of an ICP distribution. By examining six repeated propagations with three separate growth phases (lag, exponential, and stationary), the ICP method previously established for photometry was transferred successfully to flow cytometry by using the pH-dependent fluorescent probe 5,6-carboxyfluorescein. The correlation between the two methods was good (r 2 ‫؍‬ 0.898, n ‫؍‬ 18). With both methods it is possible to track the course of growth phases. Although photometry did not yield significant differences between exponentially and stationary phases (P ‫؍‬ 0.433), ICP via flow cytometry did (P ‫؍‬ 0.012). Yeast in an exponential phase has a unimodal ICP distribution, reflective of a homogeneous population; however, yeast in a stationary phase displays a broader ICP distribution, and subpopulations could be defined by using the flow cytometry method. In conclusion, flow cytometry yielded specific evidence of the heterogeneity in vitality of a yeast population as measured via ICP. In contrast to photometry, flow cytometry increases information about the yeast population's vitality via a short measurement, which is suitable for routine analysis.Yeast plays an important role in the food industry. It is primarily used for making bread, beer, and wine, and the flavor and aromatic compounds it produces are characteristic of these fermented products. The physiological state of the yeast biomass influences the fermentation performance and thus the quality of the resulting product, e.g., of beer (1, 32). Food processors who depend on yeast health for consistent fermentations demand a method to measure yeast's physiological condition during yeast growth, that is, its vitality. The term "vitality" refers to the health of living biomass where high vitality results in a fast fermentation with minimal undesired by-products, while low vitality results in sluggish or poorly attenuating fermentation. In contrast, the term "viability" only distinguishes between dead and alive cells.

Due to enhanced energy content and reduced hygroscopicity compared with ethanol, n-butanol is flagged as the next generation biofuel and platform chemical. In addition to conventional cellular systems, n-butanol bioproduction by enzyme cascades is gaining momentum due to simplified process control. In contrast to other bio-based alcohols like ethanol and isobutanol, cell-free n-butanol biosynthesis from the central metabolic intermediate pyruvate involves cofactors [NAD(P)H, CoA] and acetyl-CoA-dependent intermediates, which complicates redox and energy balancing of the reaction system. We have devised a biochemical process for cell-free n-butanol production that only involves three enzyme activities, thereby eliminating the need for acetyl-CoA. Instead, the process utilizes only NADH as the sole redox mediator. Central to this new process is the amino acid catalyzed enamine–aldol condensation, which transforms acetaldehyde directly into crotonaldehyde. Subsequently, crotonaldehyde is reduced to n-butanol applying a 2-enoate reductase and an alcohol dehydrogenase, respectively. In essence, we achieved conversion of the platform intermediate pyruvate to n-butanol utilizing a biocatalytic cascade comprising only three enzyme activities and NADH as reducing equivalent. With reference to previously reported cell-free n-butanol reaction cascades, we have eliminated five enzyme activities and the requirement of CoA as cofactor. Our proof-of-concept demonstrates that n-butanol was synthesized at neutral pH and 50°C. This integrated reaction concept allowed GC detection of all reaction intermediates and n-butanol production of 148 mg L−1 (2 mM), which compares well with other cell-free n-butanol production processes.

The production of chemicals from renewable resources is gaining importance in the light of limited fossil resources. One promising alternative to widespread fermentation based methods used here is Synthetic Cascade Biomanufacturing, the application of minimized biocatalytic reaction cascades in cell free processes. One recent example is the development of the phosphorylation independent conversion of glucose to ethanol and isobutanol using only 6 and 8 enzymes, respectively. A key enzyme for this pathway is aldehyde dehydrogenase from Thermoplasma acidophilum, which catalyzes the highly substrate specific oxidation of d-glyceraldehyde to d-glycerate. In this work the enzyme was recombinantly expressed in Escherichia coli. Using matrix-assisted refolding of inclusion bodies the yield of enzyme production was enhanced 43-fold and thus for the first time the enzyme was provided in substantial amounts. Characterization of structural stability verified correct refolding of the protein. The stability of the enzyme was determined by guanidinium chloride as well as isobutanol induced denaturation to be ca. −8 kJ/mol both at 25°C and 40°C. The aldehyde dehydrogenase is active at high temperatures and in the presence of small amounts of organic solvents. In contrast to previous publications, the enzyme was found to accept NAD+ as cofactor making it suitable for application in the artificial glycolysis.

Kozakia baliensis belongs to the family Acetobacteraceae and was described for the first time in 2002. These acetic acid bacteria are able to produce acetic acid from various carbon sources and 2- and 5-keto-d-gluconate from glucose. The novel K. baliensis strain SR-745 was isolated from a pineapple fruit bought in a German supermarket. The strain produces large amounts of organic acids when grown on glucose-containing medium and accepts also glycerol, fructose, mannitol, and sucrose as a C source. When grown under light and high-oxygen conditions in submerged culture, the production of a pink pigment is observed after 72 h.

Die nachhaltige Abscheidung und Umwandlung von Kohlendioxid (CO2) ist ein Schlüssel für das Erreichen einer kreislauforientierten Kohlenstoffwirtschaft. Die Bioelektrokatalyse verspricht, dieses Ziel zu erreichen. Die funktionale Integration von CO2‐fixierenden Enzymen in Materialien zur Elektrodenfunktionalisierung für die Elektrosynthese stereochemisch komplexer Moleküle muss jedoch erst noch demonstriert werden. Hier wird die stromgetriebene regio‐ und stereoselektive Inkorporation von CO2 in Crotonyl‐CoA durch eine NADPH‐abhängige enzymatische reduktive Carboxylierung gezeigt. Die Coimmobilisierung einer Ferredoxin‐NADP+‐Reduktase und einer Crotonyl‐CoA‐Carboxylase/‐Reduktase in einem mit 2,2′‐Viologen modifizierten Hydrogel ermöglichte ein gekoppeltes NADPH‐Recycling samt stereoselektiver Bildung von (2S)‐Ethylmalonyl‐CoA, einem Zwischenprodukt zu Multi‐Kohlenstoff‐Produkten aus CO2, mit 92±6 % faradayscher Effizienz und mit einer Rate von 1,6±0,4 μmol cm−2 h−1.