Most useful products made when enterobacter grown anaerobically. It's possible to manipulate them aerobically though.
Electricity:
Make microbial fuel cell by attaching to electrodes in cellulose solution. It's been tried with only enterobacter, but we could make this better using a co-culture. Why? Because the coculture can use more of the cellulose and prevent build-up of side products (eg acetate produced, which we don't want).
Cellulose -> Enterobacter -> Potential difference across electrodes (side products: acetate, volatile fatty acids and solvents)
Anode: bacteria growing on carbon felt anode in cellulose media.
We want to do as little metabolic engineering as possible.
Building a fuel cell could take too long and be very risky and expensive...
Cellulose is crystalline and doesn't go into cells. So bacteria have to make enzymes outside the cells to turn cellulose into something useful.
H2, Acetate, Propane, Silica, Alcohols, sugars, esters/aromatics/perfumes
Biodiesel - Ethyl Esters
Drugs
Take-Away: Modular (same enterobacter back-end) switch out different e-coli/yeast front ends to make different products
Group 1:
Cellulose->Carbon intermediate. keep track of if aerobic or anaerobic conditions
What microbe(s)? How does it work?
Manipulable, info known, aerobic/facilitative anaerobe, mesophilic (moderate temperature)
Group 2:
Carbon intermediate -> useful product (H2, Acetate, Propane, Silica, Alcohols, sugars, esters/aromatics/perfumes, Biodiesel - Ethyl Esters,Drugs
Yeast is good at tolerating ethanol.
Interesting, economic, described
How?
Genes/pathways
Measure