A Highly Compatible Phototrophic Community for Carbon‐Negative Biosynthesis

Abstract

CO2 sequestration engineering is promising for carbon‐negative biosynthesis, and artificial communities can solve more complex problems than monocultures. However, obtaining an ideal photosynthetic community is still a great challenge. Herein, we describe the development of a highly compatible photosynthetic community (HCPC) by integrating a sucrose‐producing CO2 sequestration module and a super‐coupled module. The cyanobacteria CO2 sequestration module was obtained using stepwise metabolic engineering and then coupled with the efficient sucrose utilization module Vibrio natriegens. Integrated omics analysis indicated that enhanced photosynthetic electron transport and extracellular vesicles promote intercellular communication. Additionally, the HCPC was used to channel CO2 into valuable chemicals, enabling the overall release of −22.27 to −606.59 kgCO2e kg−1 in the end products. This novel light‐driven community could facilitate circular economic implementation in the future.

Cyanobacteria as cell factories for the photosynthetic production of sucrose

“…Additional expression of a sucrose porin (cscY) and a sucrose operon repressor (cscR) further improved sucrose utilization (Löwe et al, 2020), while further optimization of the nitrogen-deficiency response pathway (Hobmeier et al, 2020) and culture conditions could boost PHA titer further (Kratzl et al, 2023; Table 2). Other co-culture products include the metabolites ethylene, isoprene, 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP), and 2,3-butanediol (Table 2), which are compounds in a broader class of industrially relevant precursors widely used for chemical synthesis (e.g., diols, organic acids, gaseous alkenes; Cui et al, 2022;Li C. et al, 2022;Ma et al, 2022). In most of these reports, the heterotrophic microbe utilized were E. coli substrains, although the rapidly growing halophile Vibrio natriegens was able to produce a relatively high amount of 2,3-butanediol in co-culture (Li C. et al, 2022).…”

“…The cosmetic p-coumaric acid, is another highervalue compound useful for its antioxidant and antimicrobial properties (Boz, 2015;Boo, 2019). The biosynthetic pathway for p-coumaric acid was introduced into V. natriegens and co-cultures of these engineered strains with S. elongatus PCC 7942 allowed for photosynthetically driven p-coumaric acid production (Li C. et al, 2022). Other recent reports provide further evidence of the flexibility of this cyanobacterial co-cultivation system (see Table 2), including bioproduction of fatty acids (Li C. et al, 2022), ε-caprolactone (Toth et al, 2022), lactate (Li C. et al, 2022), and secreted enzymes (Hays et al, 2017).…”

“…Other co-culture products include the metabolites ethylene, isoprene, 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP), and 2,3-butanediol ( Table 2 ), which are compounds in a broader class of industrially relevant precursors widely used for chemical synthesis (e.g., diols, organic acids, gaseous alkenes; Cui et al, 2022 ; Li C. et al, 2022 ; Ma et al, 2022 ). In most of these reports, the heterotrophic microbe utilized were E. coli substrains, although the rapidly growing halophile Vibrio natriegens was able to produce a relatively high amount of 2,3-butanediol in co-culture ( Li C. et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Other co-culture products include the metabolites ethylene, isoprene, 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP), and 2,3-butanediol ( Table 2 ), which are compounds in a broader class of industrially relevant precursors widely used for chemical synthesis (e.g., diols, organic acids, gaseous alkenes; Cui et al, 2022 ; Li C. et al, 2022 ; Ma et al, 2022 ). In most of these reports, the heterotrophic microbe utilized were E. coli substrains, although the rapidly growing halophile Vibrio natriegens was able to produce a relatively high amount of 2,3-butanediol in co-culture ( Li C. et al, 2022 ). Interestingly, co-cultures of S. elongatus PCC 7942 and P. putida designed to convert 5-hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), a common precursor molecule, exhibited higher efficiency when the two species were engineered to display complementary surface proteins ( Lin T. Y. et al, 2020 ).…”

“…The cosmetic p -coumaric acid, is another higher-value compound useful for its antioxidant and antimicrobial properties ( Boz, 2015 ; Boo, 2019 ). The biosynthetic pathway for p -coumaric acid was introduced into V. natriegens and co-cultures of these engineered strains with S. elongatus PCC 7942 allowed for photosynthetically driven p -coumaric acid production ( Li C. et al, 2022 ). Other recent reports provide further evidence of the flexibility of this cyanobacterial co-cultivation system (see Table 2 ), including bioproduction of fatty acids ( Li C. et al, 2022 ), ε -caprolactone ( Toth et al, 2022 ), lactate ( Li C. et al, 2022 ), and secreted enzymes ( Hays et al, 2017 ).…”