Iterative Genome Engineering Platform Enables Efficient Sucrose Biosynthesis From CO2 in Photosynthetic Synechococcus elongatus UTEX 2973.
Li S, Sun T, Liu D, Zhang T, Chen L
Crispr
Sugar crops like sugarcane demand vast land and freshwater, but microbes that eat sunlight and CO2 could one day brew sweeteners without a single field being planted.
Researchers took a tiny sunlight-powered microbe — think of it like a single-celled plant — and rewired it to make sugar directly from carbon dioxide in the air. To do this reliably, they invented three new methods for editing the microbe's DNA without leaving behind unwanted genetic leftovers. The result was a stable, engineered microbe that produced meaningful amounts of sugar in under a week.
Key Findings
Three new marker-free genome engineering platforms (T4CROSS, TRIPLEARM, CRISPRARM) were developed to enable stable, iterative DNA editing in cyanobacteria.
The CRISPRARM platform combined CRISPR gene-editing with homologous recombination, achieving three sequential modifications to build a complete sucrose production pathway.
The final engineered strain produced 7.12 g/L of sucrose within 4 days using only CO2 and light as inputs.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists engineered a fast-growing photosynthetic bacterium to efficiently convert CO2 directly into sucrose (table sugar), producing over 7 grams per liter in just 4 days — and developed three new genetic tools to make that engineering stable and repeatable.
Abstract Preview
The single crossover occurring via homologous recombination is a common phenomenon existing among microbes like Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Vibrio natriegens, Gluconobacter oxydans and mos...
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Crop-improvement refers to the systematic enhancement of plant varieties through selective breeding, genetic modification, and biotechnological approaches to develop cultivars with superior agronomic, nutritional, or environmental traits. This field is essential for addressing global food security,
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