Carbon recycling by cyanobacteria: Improving CO2 fixation through chemical production
Abstract
Atmospheric CO2 levels have reached an alarming level due to industrialization and the burning of fossil fuels. In order to lower the level of atmospheric carbon, strategies to sequester excess carbon need to be implemented. The CO2-fixing mechanism in photosynthetic organisms enables integration of atmospheric CO2 into biomass. Additionally, through exogenous metabolic pathways in these photosynthetic organisms, fixed CO2 can be routed to produce various commodity chemicals that are currently produced from petroleum. This review will highlight studies and modifications to different components of cyanobacterial CO2-fixing systems, as well as the application of these systems toward CO2-derived chemical production. 2,3-Butanediol is given particular focus as one of the most thoroughly studied systems for conversion of CO2 to a bioproduct.
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Captured carbon is not only assimilated into cellular material but can also be converted into products that displace fossil-derived chemicals.
“This links directly with carbon utilisation, because captured carbon is not only assimilated into cellular material but can also be converted into products that displace fossil-derived chemicals [223].”
From Cyanobacteria as a Photosynthetic Chassis for Metabolic Pathway Engineering with Heterologous Gene Expression (2026) · cites this paper as [223]
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- Authors
- Zhang, A., Carroll, A. L., & Atsumi, S.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Corresponding author
- Atsumi, Shota
- Venue
- FEMS Microbiology Letters
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2017-08
- Volume
- 364
- Issue
- 16
- ISSN
- 0378-1097 (ISSN-L)
- 1574-6968
- OpenAlex
- W2740041002
- Cited by
- 71
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 0.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- FEMS Microbiology Letters (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (CBET-1349663)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Microbial Metabolic Engineering and Bioproduction
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Algal biology and biofuel production
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms
- Keywords
- cyanobacteria, CO2 fixation, carbon recycling, carbon sequestration, 2,3-butanediol, photosynthetic carbon metabolism, bioproducts
- MeSH terms
- Cyanobacteria, Butylene Glycols, Carbon Dioxide, Photosynthesis, Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase, Metabolic Networks and Pathways, Biofuels, Carbon Cycle, Metabolic Engineering
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