Project description
Specialisation in smaller tasks helps bacterial biotechnologists overcome big challenges
Harnessing bacterial biosynthetic pathways to produce natural compounds naturally sounds like a great idea, yet it faces important challenges. Given the tremendous complexity of the pathways and processes, they can be difficult to control and amplify in genetically engineered organisms. The venerable approach of 'divide and conquer' is the focus of the EU-funded MENTHOL project. The team will develop methods to produce bacteria derived from the same parent cell but having subpopulations specialised for executing specific steps in the pathways. This modular scheme exploiting metabolic heterogeneity will be used to produce commercially important natural compounds from waste cooking oils.
Objective
This proposal aims to change current paradigms of biotechnological production of complex plant natural compounds, specifically isoprenoids such as limonene, menthol, and p-cymene. MENTHOL main innovation lies in the synthetic decoupling of the complex biosynthetic pathways of these compounds into a distributed catalysis within monoclonal heterogeneous bacterial populations. Limonene and menthol are natural monoterpenes widely used as flavor and fragrance additives, while p-cymene is an important precursor in the bio-based production of terephthalic acid, a key precursor of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). Although they have been successfully produced by genetically engineered microorganisms, to reach industrial scale production there are still obstacles to overcome. On the one hand, the introduction of large biosynthetic pathways in a single bacterial strain may cause host unstable physiology and low performance; and on the other hand, the use of synthetic consortia to overcome this shortcoming can be limited by differences in the growth profile of species involved. This proposal is conceived as an alternative to avoid those obstacles, by decoupling the complex biosynthetic pathways of the target compounds into minimal functional modules, to be reassembled inside metabolically differentiated subpopulations of a single specie-based multifunctional bacterial culture. To achieve such ambitious goal, in this project we will applied cutting-edge systems and synthetic biology tools to engineer programmable metabolic heterogeneity inside a monoclonal population of Pseudomonas putida, to promote the division of labor during the production of limonene, menthol, and p-cymene using waste cooking oils as economic and reliable renewable feedstock.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences synthetic biology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine physiology
- natural sciences chemical sciences catalysis
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
28006 MADRID
Spain
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.