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Isoprene Research Campaign: Making Isoprene from Biomass Material using Bacillus Species


EMSL Project ID
43390

Abstract

The overarching goal of this project is to understand the pathway of isoprene production in Bacillus subtilis, to serve as the basis for genetically modifying the pathway to substantially increase the yield of isoprene from biomass. The following specific aims are proposed:
1. identify the bacterial isoprene synthase in Bacillus subtilis, the last enzyme in the isoprene biosynthesis pathway, which is currently unknown.
2. characterize the regulation of the isoprene biosynthesis pathway.
3. develop predictive models of the metabolic networks of B. subtilis to identify targets for experimental manipulation of this strain.
To accomplish the proposed specific aims, a multi-disciplinary team from the Bioproducts, Science, and Engineering Laboratory (BSEL) of Washington State University (WSU) will work with investigators from the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) at PNNL. Normal and genetically modified versions of Bacillus subtilis provided by WSU will be analyzed by the transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics capabilities of EMSL. The resulting data will be integrated and used as a basis for identifying the isoprene synthetase gene and for understanding its regulation.

Project Details

Project type
Research Campaign
Start Date
2011-01-17
End Date
2013-01-20
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Birgitte Ahring
Institution
Washington State University Tri-Cities

Team Members

Ronald Taylor
Institution
National Institutes of Health

Bryan Linggi
Institution
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Lye Meng Markillie
Institution
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Junfeng Xue
Institution
Washington State University Tri-Cities

H Wiley
Institution
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Nancy Isern
Institution
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Galya Orr
Institution
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Ljiljana Pasa-Tolic
Institution
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Paul Majors
Institution
Washington State University

Related Publications

Hess BM, J Xue, LM Markillie, RC Taylor, HS Wiley, BK Ahring, and BE Linggi. 2013. "Coregulation of terpenoid pathway genes and prediction of isoprene production in Bacillus subtilis using transcriptomics." PLoS One 8(6):e66104.