Regulation of metabolic pathway by electrode-based electron transfer
Electrochemically active strain exchange their respiratory electron with electrode and regulate internal redox balance. The bioelectrochemical system (BES) can be used to regulate the metabolic pathway of bacteria to improve the yield and tier of metabolites.The BES is a hybrid system for bio-material-electrochemistry, and is able to provide a platform to utilize renewable electricity into biotechnology and bioprocess.
Development of engineered electroactive strain for e-biorefinery
Metabolic pathway engineering using OMICS improve the conversion yield and productivity of target metabolits such as longer chain volatile fatty acids (VFAs), hydroxypropionate and propanediol. We have developed recombinant strains of Pseudomonas putida, Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 and Klebsiella pneumonia etc., and examined the performance in BES reactor. This work enables to develop a novel microbe-electrode hybrid system for bioenergy and biochemical production process.
Flux Analysis of e-biorefinery process
Qualification and quantification of energy flow of intra- and extra- cellular metabolisms are quite important in bioprocess. We investigate metabolic fluxes in electro-active bacteria of bioelectrochemical system (BES) and further develop regulation strategy for target
metabolite production. The focus of research are following:
- Analysis of intracellular metabolism in electroactive microorganism
- Control of fermentation process by BES
- Investigation of microbe-material interface