Production of fuels and chemicals from natural gas using a methanotroph biocatalyst

Natural gas is currently one of the most economical sources of carbon and is second only to coal in terms of high carbon abundance and low carbon cost. Methanotroph bacteria use methane in natural gas as the sole carbon source to support cellular metabolism and growth. Natural gas is an attractive potential feedstock for microbial bioconversion efforts because, unlike sugar, it is a highly reduced form of carbon, allowing conversion of the methane substrate into reduced products with high stoichiometric yields. The objective of Intrexon’s natural gas upgrading program is to develop methanotroph biocatalysts for industrial-scale bioconversion of natural gas to chemicals, lubricants and fuels.  Intrexon’s unique cellular engineering capabilities enable genetic manipulation of the methanotroph bacterium to convert natural gas to higher carbon content compounds at ambient temperatures and pressures, thereby reducing capex and opex requirements compared to standard gas to liquid (GTL) processes. Unlike other industrial hosts such as E. coli and S. cerevisiae, methanotrophs are challenging to genetically engineer as the requisite technologies are generally not available and detailed regulatory and physiological information is lacking.  Intrexon’s synthetic biology team has developed an advanced suite of technologies that enables rapid genetic engineering of methanotroph bacteria.  These technologies include plasmid-based expression systems, graded constitutive and inducible promoter systems, and facile methods for gene knock in/out, direct transformation/electroporation, and advanced genome editing.  Using these technologies, we have generated strains with increasing productivities for upgrading natural gas to higher value fuels and chemicals.