Team:TJU
Team-TJU from Tianjin University
title
Project Description
Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs), including microbial fuel cells (MFCs), microbial electrolysis cells, and microbial electrosynthesis etc., are sustainable and green technologies that enable biogeochemical cycles, waste decomposition and biofuel production. Meanwhile, extending engineering capabilities from single-cell behaviors to multicellular microbial consortia represents a new frontier of synthetic biology.
What we want to do is to create “sparks” between the two. By taking great advantages of mutualistic interactions, syntrophic microbial consortia were widely used in MFCs due to their capability to degrade a wide spectrum of complicated substrates by the fermentative microorganisms. The subsequent utilization of these fermentation end products by the exoelectrogens (producing electricity via their extracellular electron transfer pathways) can relieve feedback inhibition on the fermentative microbes, allowing rapid metabolism of substrates. In this way, the collective output through mutualistic interactions is typically greater than that of each of the monoculture systems so that we could possibly make the MFCs more efficient and economical.
Inspired by the concept, we construct a co-cultured system of E.coli and Shewanella oneidensis, one of the most well-studied exoelectrogens to accomplish our goal. In our project, their interactions are explored and modified to establish a more innovative and efficient system of energy transformation.