However, CO2 imposes bioenergetic restrictions to the metabolism of microorganisms, limiting their industrial applicability. Using mixed substrates in fermentations has the potential to alleviate these restrictions in any microorganism (even those lacking genetic tools) and unlock the cost-effective conversion of CO2 to advanced bioproducts.
The hypothesis of the project is that intracellular fluxes can be rationally directed towards more efficient carbon and redox cofactor usage by selecting optimal co-substrates and co-feeding strategies.
The aim of the project is to develop a methodological framework based on a systems biology approach that allows for a rational design of co-feeding strategies leading to maximum growth rate, yield and productivity in fermentations. These will be applied for converting CO2 to lipids, but are expected to have great impact and wide applicability in many other fermentation processes.