Engineering trophic diversity into photosynthetic microbes

摘要

Renewable energy sources are slowly becoming part of the energy landscape due to increasing climate and volatility concerns of the traditional fossil fuel economy. Bacterial conversion of carbon feedstocks to biofuels has shown great promise as a means of efficient production. Biofuels may be uniquely suited for the transition to an environmentally-conscientious energy economy due to the compatibility with current petroleum infrastructure, energy density, low or negative carbon emissions, and applicability to supporting the neighboring chemical industry. These advantages are derived from the common usage of carbon as an energy carrier. As such, biofuels must be generated from CO_2 and light either directly or indirectly through plant feedstock materials.