Abstract
With increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and volatile fuel prices and supply, it is becoming increasingly more important to develop reliable, renewable sources of fuels. Biofuels can be produced by a variety of organisms including bacteria, fungi, plants, and algae. Phototrophic microorganisms (algae, diatoms, and cyanobacteria) have a distinct advantage over heterotrophic organisms because they do not compete with the food or feed supply for carbon substrates. Their photosynthetic apparatus is also more efficient at light harvesting than land plants, which gives them a distinct advantage in terms of growth and carbon fixation. Despite these advantages, there has been much less focused effort at using these organisms for metabolic engineering projects to produce biofuels and bioproducts. In this chapter, we discuss how to approach the selection of a platform strain in terms of the tools and information available for different genus and species. In recent years, there has been much more focus on developing more sophisticated tools for certain organisms which have high potential. Transferring a platform strain created in a laboratory to large-scale production is not straight forward, so we also address the challenges associated with this and how to avoid or compensate for the most common pitfalls.
Published Version
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