Projects
Projects: Projects for Investigator |
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| Reference Number | BB/I004475/1 | |
| Title | Systems biology of the butanol-producing Clostridium acetobutylicum: new source of biofuel and chemicals/COSMIC2 | |
| Status | Completed | |
| Energy Categories | Renewable Energy Sources(Bio-Energy, Production of other biomass-derived fuels (incl. Production from wastes)) 50%; Renewable Energy Sources(Bio-Energy, Production of transport biofuels (incl. Production from wastes)) 50%; |
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| Research Types | Basic and strategic applied research 100% | |
| Science and Technology Fields | BIOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES (Biological Sciences) 100% | |
| UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation | Not Cross-cutting 100% | |
| Principal Investigator |
Prof N (Nigel ) Minton No email address given Centre for Biomolecular Sciences University of Nottingham |
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| Award Type | Research Grant | |
| Funding Source | BBSRC | |
| Start Date | 01 October 2010 | |
| End Date | 30 September 2013 | |
| Duration | 36 months | |
| Total Grant Value | £452,694 | |
| Industrial Sectors | Manufacturing; Transport Systems and Vehicles | |
| Region | East Midlands | |
| Programme | Systems Biology of Microorganisms 2 (SysMo2) | |
| Investigators | Principal Investigator | Prof N (Nigel ) Minton , Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Nottingham (99.999%) |
| Other Investigator | Dr K (Klaus ) Winzer , Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Nottingham (0.001%) |
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| Web Site | ||
| Objectives | Beneficaries: The ultimate goal of this project is to generate strains of Clostridium acetobutylicum that produce biobutanol with greater productivity and which can form the basis of a commercial process for biobutanol production. The major direct beneficary is, therefore, the industrial private sector concerned with chemical commodity production. A boost for the agricultural sector is also expected, as farmers will be able to profit from the demand for cellulosic waste products which form the substrates for biobutanol production. The results will also benefit national and international government green policies in helping to replace fossil fuels with biofuel. Achieving government targets in terms of green issues will also indirectly benefit the wider general public. How they benefit from this research: At the basic level, industrial producers will benefit through the availability of strains which may be employed as the basis of an economic process for biobutanol production. These beneficaries may be expected to gain a commercial advantage over competitors. The ultimate development of a biobutanol process will reduce national, and international, reliance on fossil fuels in the transportation sector, providing a cleaner environment and therefore indirectly impacting on human health. The technological developments will also provide an opportunity for export to third countries providing revenue for UK Plc. The project will also provide the opportunity for staff working directly on the project, together with postgraduate students indirectly affiliated to the project, to become trained in the arena of the strategically important areas of 'Systems Biology' and 'Bioenergy'. These skills should prove applicable to many different projects outside of butanol metabolism. To ensure that they benefit: The project PI (NPM) already has strong links with a major UK Biofuel company, who part fund other BBSRC projects at the University, and with whom a commercial agreement is already in place. A high degree of collaboration will be maintained with this company, while at the same time other collaborative ventures will be explored. To date, previous BBSRC funding to NPM has resulted in the filing of 4 patents to cover the enabling gene technologies that make this project possible. In addition to a number of academic awards, the existence of these technologies have led to 2 X BBSRC IPA awards, 4 X industrial CASE awards, 1 X industrial studentship and an industrial research contract with a major US Pharmaceutical company. Our principle measure of success will, therefore, be the filing and subsequent licensing of patents concerned with butanol production to private companies. Through liaison with Nottingham's Research & Innovations service, NPM will continue to monitor the IP and commercial potential of the research to be undertaken here, and will additionally chair a consortium wide committee concerned with IP and commercialisation of theconsortia outputs. Over a n above these activities, the project members will endeavour to communicate their work widely, both through the scientific and non-scientific press and through various media outlets, including websites. | |
| Abstract | The enzymes catalyzing and controlling conversion of glucose to solvents and acids are encoded by up to 40 genes. Starting with model-driven hypotheses, specific mutants will be generated by knock-in and knock-out strategies and analyzed. Selected mutants will be grown in continuous culture, allowing the imposition of reproducible, controlled perturbations. Fermentation analysis will include substrate/product concentrations, determination of key intracellular metabolites, and transcriptome time series. These data will lead to further iterative experimentation and ultimately to a fine-tuned quantitative description of the process of solventogenesis. Workpackages:- 1) Construction of artificially controlled genes required for solvent production/regulation: ACE technology will place specific chromosomal genes under inducible control. These changes, in combination with gene knock-outs, will allow rational perturbation of the system. 2) Analysis of mutants in continuous culture under standardized conditions: Strains will be grown and analyzed in continuous culture. Quantitative analysis will include substrate and product determination, identification and quantification of key intracellular metabolites, and transcriptome time series. 3) Modelling, in silico generation of hypotheses and experimental design: An iterative process of model-based hypothesis generation and experimental testing by variations of the transcriptome and the environome will be adopted for refining the model. Controlled stimuli from the environome and rapid sampling experiments will be included. 4) Data management: DaMaSys will serve as an access-controlled repository for multi-'omics' datasets as well as platform for communication and joint model development. Data pre-treatment, data consistency checks, data curation for modelling purposes, and, in part, the cyclic interaction between model-based hypothesis generation and experimental testing will be organized into automatable workflows. | |
| Data | No related datasets |
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| Projects | No related projects |
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| Publications | No related publications |
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| Added to Database | 10/12/13 | |
