Thirteen BioSC projects successfully finished in 2016

Eight SEED FUND projects and five BOOST FUND projects were successfully finished in 2016. The projects mainly focussed on biomass conversion and on production of platform and high value chemicals.

One main focus of the projects was the challenge to access biomass for conversion into platform and high-value chemicals. The BOOST FUND project OrCaCel focussed on optimization of pre-treatment and fractionation of plant biomass. Different perennial plants were grown under various conditions and their cell wall composition as well as the output streams of fractionation with the OrganoCat process were characterized.

To enable economically feasible industrial conversion processes, substantial amounts of plant biomass-degrading enzymes are needed but many of them can still not be produced in large quantities and at reasonable costs. This challenge was adressed by two BOOST FUND projects. BioBreak succeeded to optimize two important secretion systems in the bacterial expression strains Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. BIOExpresSPro identified novel naturally occurring plant-biomass degrading enzymes via database search and developed a novel synthetic biology strategy enabling high-throughput cloning, high-level expression and secretion of enzymes in different microbial chassis organisms.

An alternative access to biomass is the production of synthesis gas and subsequently of methanol e.g. from wood residuals or sludge. In the SEED FUND project MetEvo, the concept of metabolic evolution was successfully applied to significantly enhance methanol assimilation of a methanol-consuming Corynebacterium glutamicum strain.

Another main focus of the finished projects was the production of platform and high-value chemicals. The economic viability of new production pathways is often hindered by low biocatalytic efficiency. Therefore, the SEED FUND project ROXENSE developed a generalizable concept to optimize biocatalytic product yield by targeting the metabolic redox balance in cells. The SEED FUND project MoniCon worked on the development of defined microbial mixed cultures to replace cocktails of purified enzymes. The BOOST FUND project GLUFACT succeeded in genetic characterization of the frequently used production host Gluconobacter oxydans and in development of a strain with an increased biomass yield. Moreover, novel industrially relevant dehydrogenases were identified and novel fermentation strategies were established. The SEED FUND project UstiOpt optimized an unconventional secretion pathway in Ustilago which allows eukaryotic production of proteins lacking N-glycosylation, e.g antibody fragments.

Some projects worked on the synthesis of plant and microbial natural products. The BOOST FUND project MoRe-Plants addressed the heterologous expression of multi-enzyme cascades in microorganisms for the production of specific alkaloids which are used as antitumor drugs. The SEED FUND project DiPro aimed at the in vitro synthesis of lignans which are highly attractive for the application as pharmaceuticals. To make the synthesis efficient and specific, dirigent proteins which allow a regio- and stereospecific control of particular reaction steps were identified and expressed. Two SEED FUND projects dealt with biosurfactants which have a rapidly increasing global market due to their wide application range, biodegradability and low toxicity. NovoSurf identified novel biosurfactants in soil bacteria and analyzed their suitability for control of nematodes while VariSurf established and optimized the biotechnological production of biosurfactants.

The transformation of a conventional to a bio-based economy can induce changes e.g. in global biomass trade. The SEED FUND project Econ-BioSC developed new quantitative tools to analyze the potential effects of such changes on sensitive ecosystems, such as tropical forests.