JBEI researchers develop dynamic sensor-regulatory system

Biodiesel Magazine
By Erin Voegele April 05, 2012

Researchers at the U.S. DOE’s Joint BioEnergy Institute have developed a new technique that can significantly boost the microbial production of biofuels. The new technique, referred to as a dynamic sensor-regulator system (DSRS), was able to triple the amount of biobased diesel produced from glucose in one demonstration. According to information released by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which is part of the JBEI, the DSRS system is able to detect metabolic changes in microbes during the production of fatty acid-based fuels or chemicals and control the expression of genes affecting that production.

“Microbial production of fuels and chemicals from fatty acids is a greener and sustainable alternative to chemical synthesis,” JBEI researcher Fuzhong Zhang. “However, high productivities, titers and yields are essential for microbial production of these chemical products to be economically viable, particularly in the cases of biofuels and low-value bulk chemicals.”

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