| I. Synthetic biology and the biobased economy |
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The production of next generation biofuels is one of the major targets for commercial application of synthetic biology. Energy production is a field of application that has considerable public support. And it is about to become big business.
In 2007 British Petroleum selected the University of California, Berkeley to lead the Energy Biosciences Institute. It is a $500 million energy research consortium with partners Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and the University of Illinois. A year ago, Craig Venter’s company, Synthetic Genomics announced a $300 million deal with Exxon Mobil. The plan is to create fuel-producing algae, in part by using synthetic genes.
On May 27, in a hearing for the Health and Energy Committee on Energy and Commerce of the U.S. House of Representatives, Jay Keasling told how the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) is exploring the potential of synthetic biology to advance the development of next generation advanced “drop-in” fuels that perform better than ethanol.
From petroleum to sugar? Keasling is also the founder of Amyris Biotechnologies Inc. This company is one of the key players that projects the global synthetic biology market to exceed $ 4.5 billion by the year 2015. Amyris is specialized in applying synthetic biology to provide alternatives to petroleum-sourced fuels and chemicals. A brief overview of Amyris’s activities demonstrates that apart from biofuels, synthetic biology will be applied to pave the way for a bio-based economy.
The idea is to replace molecules that might otherwise be produced from petroleum, with sugarbased products. Amyris is not only applying a type of biological pathway engineering that still looks like a sophisticated mode of genetic engineering, it also builds on established interests in sugar cane production. The company demonstrates that commercial strategies are built on existing technologies and economic infrastructures.
Radical approach Meanwhile, far more radical approaches of synthetic biology are being developed. Think of a new artificial photosynthetic material. It uses plant, bacterial, frog and fungal enzymes, by trapping them within a foam housing. Such artificial energy production platforms are more radical because they do not rely on plants or algae. They are not competing with food production, since they do not use soil. And they are far more efficient in capturing and converting energy from the sunlight since they do not have to maintain life and reproduce. But, these more radical applications may require fundamental transitions in the structure of energy production and distribution. That makes commercial incentives like the ones BP and ExxonMobil are involved in, less likely.
More about Amyris and artificial photosynthesis Amyris Paves the Way for Sustainable Fuels and Chemical Production (PDF file) Frogs, Foam and Fuel (PDF file)
References Energy Biosciences Institute website: https://www.energybiosciencesinstitute.org/ Testimony by Dr. Jay Keasling, Hearing on Developments in Synthetic Genomics and Implications for Health and Energy, Committee on Energy and Commerce U.S. House of Representatives, May 27, 2010 https://energycommerce.house.gov/documents/20100527/Keasling.Testimony.05.27.2010.pdf
Antonia Regalado, Reinventing the Leaf, Scientific American (Web only), October 2010http://www.scientificamerican.com/assets/zemi/files/pdf/Reinventing_the_Leaf.pdf |