Team:NAWI Graz/Description

Introduction

In the last decades, the palm oil industry increased on an extreme level and, because of great demand, it still does. The main product from the palm plant, palm oil and palm kernel oil, are not dispensable in today´s society. Because of their characteristic properties, they are widely used in food-, material-, beauty- and fuel industry. A lot of products of our daily lives are dependent on the use of the oil as raw material and finding a natural substitute is very difficult due to its composition and the efficiency of the oil plant. With more than 80 %, Malaysia and Indonesia are leading the worldwide production of the oil, not always using sustainable methods. The consequences for the environment are devastating: The deforestation of the rainforest not only leads to increasing CO2 emissions, but also robs numerous animal and plant species of their habitat. Furthermore, social injustice and land conflicts are daily fare.

The aim of our project: We want to find a way to produce palm kernel oil in genetically engineered microorganisms, especially E. coli. To achieve our goal we are using the CRISPR/ Cas9 system to modify the lipid metabolism on a molecular level and change the bacterial genome to favor the production of the desired fatty acids and furthermore control esterification.

Production of fatty acids

The palm kernel oil owes its positive properties to its unique lipid pattern. It mainly consists out of short chain, saturated fatty acids such as lauric acid (C12) and myristic acid (C14), as well as the monounsaturated oleic acid (C18:1). In order to change the natural lipid pattern we are introducing a mutated TesA gene into the bacterial genome. This modification favors the production of our desired fatty acids.

Esterification

By upregulation and deletion of genes involved in the triacylglyceride pathway of the E. coli we are modifying the bacterial genome to drive esterification of the fatty acids forward. We are upregulating the genes fadD, plsB and pgpB while deleting the dgkA gene. In addition we are introducing and upregulating the gene atfA from Acinetobacter baylyi.

Conclusion

With these adjustments the microorganisms should be able to produce a product with similar positive traits as the natural product from the rainforest - without the side effects of deforestation and environmental destruction. The time has come to realize that these problems do not only concern our generation but also following ones. We must not forget: it is all about the future of our planet. Our project should help to open our eyes and be aware of these problems created by our consumer society. We are trying to make the world a better place - at least a little bit!

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