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Outlook on the Potential of Cyanobacteria to Photosynthetically Produce High-Value Chemicals and Biofuels at an Industrial Scale

Tylor J Johnson, Ruanbao Zhou, Jeremiah G Johnson, Liping Gu and William R Gibbons

As the need to develop sustainable and renewable sources of chemicals and energy is increasing, cyanobacteria have emerged as an attractive industrial microorganism. Using energy from sunlight, H2O, and CO2, cyanobacteria can either produce naturally or be genetically engineered to produce high-value chemicals and next-generation biofuels.
The list of chemicals that cyanobacteria have produced is extensive and constantly growing, however the titers of the chemicals produced by cyanobacteria are generally low.
Thus, before an economically feasible large-scale chemical production process can be achieved, cyanobacterial production titers must be increased. Also, costs associated with cultivating cyanobacteria at an industrial scale must be decreased.
In this communication, our research group’s progress towards enhancing the industrial potential of cyanobacteria is summarized and potential future targets for research are discussed. Cyanobacteria as industrial microorganisms holds a great deal of potential towards developing high-value chemicals and next-generation biofuels.