项目来源

香港研究资助局基金(RGC)

项目主持人

Dr Lin, Carol Sze Ki

项目受资助机构

City University of Hong Kong

项目编号

189713

立项年度

2013

立项时间

未公开

研究期限

未知 / 未知

项目级别

省级

受资助金额

567353.00港币

学科

Biological Sciences

学科代码

未公开

基金类别

Early Career Scheme

关键词

未公开

参与者AI

高翠娟;连思琪;祁庆生

参与机构AI

临沂大学;香港城市大学;山东大学

项目标书摘要：Increasing demand for fuels and chemicals,driven by factors including over-population,the threat of global warming and the scarcity of fossil resources,strain our resource system and make necessary the development of sustainable and innovative strategies for the chemical industry.The strain that our resource system is under drives industry to increase its overall efficiency by improving existing processes or finding new uses for waste.Succinic acid(SA)is an important platform chemical for the production of surfactants,petro-fuel,antibiotics,protein building blocks,and vitamins.Because of its industrial importance,it was identified as one of the top twelve potential chemical building blocks for the future by the US Department of Energy in the past decade.One way of producing SA is by fermentation using the bacterium Actinobacillus succinogenes,which can also fix atmospheric CO2 in the process,making this a green chemical process.The use of this micro-organism,however,has not reached industrial scale due to limitations of yield and high production cost.The major drawback associated with bacterial SA fermentation is the formation of dicarboxylic acid salt due to the addition of alkali to maintain a neutral pH of fermentation broth.As a consequence,most acids will be produced in their salt form and the salts will have to be converted into acid.This is neither practical nor efficient in large-scale production processes and increases the production cost.The most promising alternative to petroleum-derived plastics is the production of biodegradable and durable polymers that can be produced from renewable sources.Polyhydroxyalkanoates(PHAs)are one of the most promising groups of biodegradable plastics that can be produced as intracellular energy-reserve granules via microbial fermentation of renewable resources.They are biocompatible,biodegradable,and withstand relatively high temperatures.However,these biopolymers are usually made from cost-intensive non-sustainable starting materials.This limits their industrial applications and full potential.This proposal aims to bioengineer a yeast Yarrowia lipolytica using established methods of genetic engineering,so it can simultaneously produce SA and PHAs.Metabolic engineering can alter the metabolic pathways of Y.lipolytica in such a way that more enzymes can be produced to degrade the food waste,at the same time,to produce SA and PHAs at higher productivity and yield.Fermentations using acidic medium consisting glycerol and fatty acids as carbon sources will be studied for SA and PHAs production.Integrated procedure with the fermentation process will be developed to recover succinic acid directly from fermentation broth.The proposed research will provide an innovative food valorisation solution,which could contribute to a future bio-based economy.It will also enhance Hong Kong’s competitiveness and wealth by promoting research and development of novel processes for chemical production based on renewable and no-cost feedstocks.;