Improved metabolic engineering of the marine cyanobacterium, Synechococcus sp. strain PCC 7002 for the production of sugar feedstocks and commodity chemicals.

Cyanobacteria are an attractive platform for the production of alternative sugar feedstocks for biofuels as well as the direct biosynthesis of some commodity chemicals. They are capable of significantly higher biomass yields than terrestrial plants, can be rapidly engineered and don’t compete with food crops for arable land. In particular, the marine cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. strain PCC 7002 holds a great deal of promise as a viable production strain due to its high growth rate compared with other model cyanobacteria and its ability to grow equally well in freshwater and saltwater. Here we discuss the development of the first comprehensive set of genetic tools for this organism, including promoter libraries and induction systems, as well as their implementation in metabolic engineering strategies for the overproduction of lysine and glycogen. Our efforts to use high nutrient wastewater as a growth medium for these cyanobacteria will also be presented.