Improving the synthetic biology toolbox of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

• Main Author: Caicedo Burbano, S.P.
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dare.uva.nl/personal/pure/en/publications/improving-the-synthetic-biology-toolbox-of-synechocystis-sp-pcc-6803(8f689f07-5ec8-4045-a724-440b9505ccc2).html; https://hdl.handle.net/11245.1/8f689f07-5ec8-4045-a724-440b9505ccc2; https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/59207680/Thesis.pdf; https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/59207682/cover.jpg

One of the main challenges faced by human societies is to reduce the detrimental ecological consequences caused by human activities. The increasing accumulation of atmospheric CO 2 for nearly 200 years is posing serious environmental threats such as global warming and ocean acidification that have caused alarming consequences. One promising biotechnological solution to counter this is the usage of cyanobacteria as green cell factories. These hosts could act as chassis in which additional components can be added, resulting in the direct conversion of CO 2 into products of interest, fuelled by (sun) light, and having O 2 as the only by-product. Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, a model microorganism of the phylum cyanobacteria, has been widely studied as a sustainable alternative for biotechnological production of different compounds. Extensive molecular manipulation is required to construct cell factories, but the tools available for Synechocystis and other species of cyanobacteria are limited in comparison with the tools developed for chemoheterotrophic model organisms such as Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae . The current tools used for cyanobacteria have been to a great extend inherited from the toolbox developed from these organisms. These tools are not always adequate for cyanobacteria, and consequently perform less optimally. In order to exploit the full potential of cyanobacterial cell factories and use them for industrial biotechnological applications, it is necessary to expand the synthetic biology toolbox of cyanobacteria. This thesis describes the development of synthetic biology techniques that allow controlled expression of target pathways in cyanobacterial cell factories and that can speed up the engineering of these strains.