Fast-growing cyanobacterial chassis for synthetic biology application

Abstract

Carbon neutrality by 2050 has become one of the most urgent challenges the world faces today. To address the issue, it is necessary to develop and promote new technologies related with CO₂ recycling. Cyanobacteria are the only prokaryotes performing oxygenic photosynthesis, capable of fixing CO₂ into biomass under sunlight and serving as one of the most important primary producers on earth. Notably, recent progress on synthetic biology has led to utilizing model cyanobacteria such as Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 and Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 as chassis for "light-driven autotrophic cell factories" to produce several dozens of biofuels and various fine chemicals directly from CO₂. However, due to the slow growth rate and low biomass accumulation in the current chassis, the productivity for most products is still lower than the threshold necessary for large-scale commercial application, raising the importance of developing high-efficiency cyanobacterial chassis with fast growth and/or higher biomass accumulation capabilities. In this article, we critically reviewed recent progresses on identification, systems biology analysis, and engineering of fast-growing cyanobacterial chassis. Specifically, fast-growing cyanobacteria identified in recent years, such as S. elongatus UTEX 2973, S. elongatus PCC 11801, S. elongatus PCC 11802 and Synechococcus sp. PCC 11901 was comparatively analyzed. In addition, the progresses on their recent application in converting CO₂ into chemicals, and genetic toolboxes developed for these new cyanobacterial chassis were discussed. Finally, the article provides insights into future challenges and perspectives on the synthetic biology application of cyanobacterial chassis.

Keywords: Fast-growing cyanobacteria; Synechococcus sp.; biofuels and chemicals; chassis engineering; photosynthetic CO2 conversion; toolboxes.