S133: Rapid engineering of a robust host for the cost superior production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid

As the demand for fuels and chemicals continues to increase, the biological production of products from renewable feedstocks has become a means of supplementing or even replacing a number of traditionally petroleum-based products. This growing field of bio-refining relies upon the use of microorganisms to convert renewable carbon sources into higher value products. Previously, bio-refining processes have sought to either exploit the native biosynthetic pathways of specific micro-organisms to produce valuable chemicals or have relied upon genetic engineering of micro-organisms to produce non-natural products. Commercial bio-processes have then been designed around these organisms, which are often costly due to the complex requirements of the microorganisms themselves. OPXBIO has developed several new high-resolution and comprehensive genomics tools that can be used to optimize industrial organisms and has applied these generalizable methods to construct several robust host microorganisms. In particular, OPXBIO has applied these strain engineering tools towards the economical production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid, which is a bio-product with several valuable market applications including the $7 Billion acrylic acid market. Our platform technology has facilitated the construction of microbial strains that are capable of producing commercially relevant titers of 3-hydroxypropionic acid in inexpensive growth conditions, which will enable a cost competitive bio-processing route to acrylic acid.