Synthetic Biology for

Carbon Neutrality

Yin Li

yli@im.ac.cn

Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

26th October 2021, at ANRRC 2021 Conference

Public conception on synthetic biology

Awareness & Impressions of Synthetic Biology, 2013

Chemistry

Biology

Computer

Engineering

Mathematics

Informatics

Convergence: Facilitating Transdisciplinary Integration of Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering, and

Beyond (2014)---National Academy of Sciences USA

Synthetic biology: new frontiers of biology

• Design and engineer novel biologically based parts, devices and

systems, redesign existing biological systems for useful purposes.

• Incorporates the principles of engineering e.g. modularity,

abstraction, and orthogonality into classical biotechnology

“The third revolution: The Convergence of the Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering” (2011) Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• From “Read” to “Design”,

indicating new revolution in

biology

• Opens a novel way to

understand the principle of

life and develop a new

paradigm for biological

research

The firstDNA structure

The second

Human genome project

The third

Synthetic biology

“The third revolution in biology”

•Understanding the minimal number of parts needed for life, to serve as a basis for engineering minimal cell factories for new functions

Minimal Genomes

•Expanding genetic information storage and adding coding capacity

Orthogonal Biosystems/Xenobiology

•Designing synthetic gene circuits that may be based on standard biological parts

Regulatory Circuits

•Engineering biosynthetic pathways to yield useful products and overcoming/removing elements that block production

Metabolic Engineering

•Bottom-up chemical design approaches to create new cells

Protocells

•Utilising and exploiting synthetic molecular machines based on cellular systems

Bionanoscience

Synthetic Biology

Developments of synthetic chromosome, non-natural genetic

codes, non-natural amino acids indicate life design is possible

Non-natural

amino acids in

E. coli

Nature 2015

The first

“synthesized

genome”

Science 2010

Synthesize

artificial

genetic

material XNA

Science 2012

Creating novel

functions for

ribosome

Nature 2015

Synthetic biology is breaking life boundary

Scientists from USA, China, UK, France, Australia, Singapore published

7 papers on Science in Mar 2017. Four articles from China

Sc2.0 Project

Creating a functional single chromosome

yeast

Prof. Zhongjun Qin, SIBS, CAS

Synthesis of natural products, biofuel, drugs, and diagnosis tools

provide huge potential for the application of synthetic biology

Biosynthesis of

chemicals from

CO2 by electric

energy

Science 2012

Biosynthesis of

alkane to

produce diesel

and gasoline

Science 2010Nature 2013

Changing

traditional

treatment of

hyperuricemia

Nature Biotech 2010

Synthesis of

Artemisinin by

yeast will

decrease the

cost 90%

Nature 2013

Synthesis of taxol

will open a new

way to protect

rare plants

resource

Science 2010

The unlimited potential of synthetic biology

Environments

Healthcare

New Drugs

New materials

Biofuel

Green chemistry

Green agriculture

The de novo engineering of genetic circuits, biological

modules, and synthetic pathways is beginning to address

these critical problems

Synthetic biology: applications

CO2

CO2 Conversion, Utilization

Carbon-neutral

Carbon

net-increase

Fossil resources

Ideal circular-economy

carbon neutrality

• Fuels

• Materials

• Chemicals

Acetyl-CoA

IPP

FPP

DMAPP

GGPP

Artemisic acid

Taxadiene

Malonyl-CoA

Fatty Acyl ACP

Alkane

Super synthetic cell

factories

Chemistry Biology Physics EngineeringMathematics

Systems biology Synthetic biology

Bio

hydrocarbon

Petroleum

Chemicals

Natural

products

Cut CO2 emission, energy consumption, waste

discharge, production cost, protect resources

Design and engineer cell factories

for bio-based manufacturing

Biomass sugars

Multi-carbon

organic

substances

Energy

CO2

Biological conversion of CO2

• Efficient biocatalyst

• Energy efficiency 10-fold higher

• Process completed within days (not months)

• Chemistry: CO2 to urea, energy-intensive

• Nature does the job: low energy efficiency, 0.3-2%

Ethanol

Lactic acid Isoprene

Fatty acid

Limonene

Sucrose

CO2

Ethylene

Acetone

isopropanol

Glycerol Butanol Isobutanol

Chemicals production from

photosynthetic cell factories

Farnesene

Biotechnology Advances 2019

How do we do that? Light as energy source

Chemosynthetic carbon fixation by

the tube worm Riftia pachyptila

Comparative analysis of carboxylation

activity and solubility of Rubiscos

Rubisco carbon capture to produce

D-lactate in E. coli

RPE Rubisco showed a 3.6-fold higher carbon capture efficiency

Glycolate production via oxygenation

function of form II Rubisco

Glycolate production via oxygenation

function of form II Rubisco

Glycolate production via oxygenation

function of form II Rubisco

Electron flow: starting from photosynthesis

Photosynthetic electrons can be

converted into electricity

The insulativity of cell wall prevents

photosynthetic electrons from exporting

From a single strain

To a microbial consortium

Lactic acid

Redirecting the electron flow enables

photo-electricity conversion

Maintaining over 40 days

average power output 135 mW/m2

Stability test(medium 20 fold/Schewanella 200 fold)

Cyanobacterial growth promoted

<10 mW∙m-2

150 mW∙m-2

Cell wall insulativity circumvented

Biophotovoltaics based on synthetic

microbial consortium

Chemoenzymatic starch synthesis from CO2

Artificial Starch Anabolic Pathway

22 nmol CO2/min/mg total enzymes – 8.5 times CO2 to corn starch

Science, 24.09.2021Prof. Yanhe Ma

Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, CAS

Future: from CO2 to organic chemicals

Energy

Light, renewable electricity, ……

Making significant contribution to carbon neutrality

Microbial resources and synthetic biology

--- huge potential

1. Bank/Library

- culture collections/data centers

- e.g. iGEM, contribution-based sharing

2. Standardization/Dynamics/Interactions

3. Consortium

4. Industry/Academic Collaborations

5. Connecting with the Global Community

RPE Rubisco: Junli Zhang, Guoxia Liu

Glyoxylate: Fan Yang

Biophotovoltaics: Huawei Zhu

Funding from:

NSFC, CAS, MOST

Acknowledgements

Thank you

CO2

Sustainability