A research group led by Keio Fujiwara, a full-time lecturer at the Faculty of Science and Technology of Keio University, and Professor Nobuhide Doi demonstrated that artificial cells that imitate microorganisms can continuously convert compounds like the fermentation production performed by microorganisms. ..
Fermented foods such as liquor and natto are made by enzymes possessed by microorganisms.In recent years, attempts to synthesize pharmaceuticals and biofuels by expanding this fermentation production technology and changing the types of enzymes possessed by microorganisms have become popular.
Here, the research group has shown that lipid bilayer vesicles (artificial cells) can be used to efficiently perform chemical conversion even with a small amount of enzyme.The group also succeeded in synthesizing ethanol from lactic acid by combining an enzyme derived from Bacillus natto, an enzyme of tequila brewing bacteria, and an enzyme of baker's yeast.In addition, by transforming artificial cells into a shape similar to microorganisms, we succeeded in improving the synthesis efficiency by 12 times compared to enzymes alone under specific conditions.
Since the purpose of this research is not practical but demonstration, the material is a chemical conversion that does not occur in nature, such as converting lactic acid to ethanol, but artificial cells can be realized by conventional methods using microorganisms and enzymes. Is expected to be applied to the synthesis of difficult and useful compounds.Ethanol is the main component of alcoholic beverages, and if it exceeds 1%, it is certified as alcoholic beverages, so it is expected that the era of making alcoholic beverages using artificial cells will come.
Paper information:[ACS Synthetic Biology] Artificial cell fermentation as a platform for highly efficient cascade conversion
