Engineering a Bacillus subtilis Strain Capable of Utilizing Marine Macroalgae for Biofuels Production
Scientists from Korea have conducted an experiment to unveil different pathways from algae associated bacteria and restructuring them to use algal polysaccharide as a feedstock for biofuel production.
In this study, the alginate degrading machinery of Vibrio splendidus was used to engineer Bacillus subtilis capable of utilizing alginate to produce ethanol. The process was optimized by addition of novel alginate lyases and removal of redundant enzymes. The process can be further engineered to create recombinant B. subtilis capable of utilizing macroalgae polysaccharides to produce variety of biofuels.