Date of Graduation
5-2011
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Advisor/Mentor
Hestekin, Jamie A
Abstract
As the demand for alternative fuels steadily increases, algae continue to be an excellent source for the development of biofuels. While algae have exhibited substantial potential for butanol production, there are limitations when it comes to the extraction process-its inability to withdraw oils and sugars usable for fermentation from cell walls. The genes of two bacteria were combined, creating a new organism that can both extract sugars and oils from algal cell walls and create butanol, simplifying the fermentation process while increasing efficiency. Pseudomonas flourescens, an obligate aerobe, has been shown in literature to degrade these cell walls to make sugars and oils available for fermentation. An anaerobic bacterium, Clostridium acetobutylicum, is commonly used for biofuel production because its ability to make biobutanol, among other biofuels. P. flourescens is absent one gene, alcohol dehydrogenase (AdhE2), from C. acetobutylicum's biobutanol pathway. The AdhE2 gene was extracted from C. acetobutylicum using PCR and then cloned it into P. flourescens using the pCN51 shuttle vector. The newly created organism that can both create biobutanol and perform algae lysis was cultured in glucose rich nutrient broth. Biobutanol production was confirmed using gas chromatography and HPLC
Keywords
biofuels, sustainability, algae, biobutanol
Citation
Frechette, D. (2011). Modification of pathways with Pseudomonas for the extraction and subsequent conversion of algae to butanol. Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/baeguht/7