Ethylene production may be limited by 2-oxoglutarate availability in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 harboring the ethylene forming enzyme

0432934 - ÚVGZ 2015 eng C - Conference Paper (international conference)
Zavřel, Tomáš - Benediktyová, Z. - Jones, P. R. - Trtílek, M.
Ethylene production may be limited by 2-oxoglutarate availability in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 harboring the ethylene forming enzyme.
[The Young Algaeneers Symposium. Montpellier-Narbonne (FR), 03.05.2014-05.05.2014]
Institutional support: RVO:67179843
Keywords : cyanobacteria * ethylene * production * limitation * 2-oxoglutarate
Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour

The prediction of world´s future energy consumption and global climate changes makes desirable to identify new technologies that will enable fossil fuels to be replaced by environmentally sustainable alternatives. Fossil fuels refining also serves as a main supply for chemical feedstock with many industrial applications. One appealing sustainable energy concept is to harvest solar energy via photosynthesis in order to convert CO2 into chemical feedstock and fuel. Cyanobacteria, the only prokaryotes capable of direct conversion of solar energy to organic compounds, have shown great biotechnological potential and have been proven to be ideal candidates for a wide range of biotechnological applications. In this work, we focused on the production of ethylene, the quantitatively most produced organic compound from fossil fuels, in a model cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. In Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 ethylene is synthesized by the ethylene-forming enzyme (EFE) from Pseudomonas syringae. The obtained ethylene yields are far below the theoretically possible stoichiometric. In order to reach higher yields it is necessary to better understand the limiting factors. Here, we focused on limitations by 2-oxoglutarate, one of the substrates for the EFE-catalyzed reaction. 2-oxoglutarate is involved, among other metabolic processes, in nitrogen metabolism and its concentration is known to increase under conditions of nitrogen deprivation. We compared ethylene production under nitrogen deprivation and nitrogen sufficiency conditions. Ethylene production was enhanced under nitrogen-deprived conditions, suggesting that ethylene production may be limited by insufficient availability of 2-oxoglutarate.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0237260