When I was researching on the metabolic engineering  aspects of algae to produce renewable fuels, my eyes caught upon this article- it squite Interesting   and it provides a lot of useful insights on the strategies employed for genetic engineering microbes for fuel production.

Using synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, or other advanced techniques to create novel or synthetic microorganisms possessing enzymatic capabilities not found in the original host organism is one of the strategy employed for increasing the efficiency of an algae strain.

The strategy involved in modifying algae strains is basically designing an optimal organism using combinations of enzymes from other sources, or even completely new enzymes designed and created using protein engineering  to produce designer mixtures of hydrocarbons mimicking the composition of diesel, jet fuels or other petroleum fuels.

For those seeking more scientific detail, some important papers in this area of research include -  Dien et al. 2003; Jarboe et al. 2007; Stephanopoulos 2007; Atsumi and Liao 2008; Fortman et al. 2008; Lee et al. 2008; Rude and Schirmer 2009 and Connor and Liao 2009.

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