Sustainable production: Cyanobacteria can manufacture biocatalysts for industry

Using photosynthetically active microorganisms, researchers at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) have succeeded in manufacturing several biocatalysts suitable for industrial application: a crucial step towards sustainable chemical processes. 

Many catalytic processes result in not only the desired product, but also in a number of by-products, which have to be painstakingly filtered out. Chemical reactions often generate two substances whose chemical structures behave like image and mirror image, so called enantiomers.

Using the cyanobacterial, the Bochum researchers have succeeded in generating primarily one structure -- an important requirement for pharmaceutical application. They published the results in the journal "Microbial Cell Factories."

"A particularly important observation was that cell components of cyanobacteria do not interfere with the catalytic activity," Robert Kourist sums up the results of the study. "Using photosynthesis for the production of industrial enzymes from carbon dioxide and water is a novel and environmentally friendly approach."

However, a wide future application of the "green cell factory" concept requires an improved efficiency. To this end, faster-growing cyanobacteria are required that do not need costly freshwater for growth. "Several cyanobacterial strains have an outstanding potential for this purpose," says Marc Nowaczyk. The team from Bochum is already looking for ways to optimise the "cell factories"; more specifically: the researchers are striving to improve photosynthetic electron transport.