Estonian researchers land European Research Council grant to study gas-consuming bacteria

In Estonia, researchers at the University of Tartu, will advance understanding of gas-consuming bacteria, supported by European Research Council grant funding. The project will pioneer a novel method for creating a large number of genetically engineered strains and compile a knowledge base that will accelerate engineering of cell factories and research in the field of biotechnology, as well as knowledge transfer supporting a circular economy. 

Acetogen bacteria are microorganisms capable of consuming both exhaust gases and gasified organic waste, including the most common household waste. While bacterial strains present in nature can produce a handful of useful compounds, bioengineering their metabolism would allow gas-fermenting acetogens to produce the necessary compounds for fuels and chemicals more efficiently and in a notably larger range. This process is called gas fermentation. It is a technology that is already in industrial use in the world, but so far mainly for the production of ethanol. 

The novelty of the project is that, within five years, it will create nearly 750 modified bacterial strains and consolidate the collected data as well as existing similar information about acetogens in a public knowledgebase (A-BASE). As the method for creating genetically modified strains would also be applicable to other microorganisms, the expected impact of the project is significant for the fields of microbiology, synthetic biology, and biotechnology, both for research and industrial applications.