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Applied microbiology

Shining a light on biofuels

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 14, page 63 (2016)Cite this article

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Microorganisms that can reduce CO2 to acetate can be used to generate biofuels. However, CO2 reduction requires an electron source, usually in the form of H2, which is costly to produce and difficult to handle. Now, Sakimoto et al. offer an alternative by showing that the acetogenic bacterium Moorella thermoacetica can use cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanoparticles to harvest electrons from sunlight, instead of H2, to produce acetate. Growing M. thermoacetica in the presence of cadmium and cysteine led to the precipitation of CdS nanoparticles that coated the surface of the bacterium. These nanoparticles enabled the bacterium to use sunlight as an electron source to reduce CO2, resulting in the production of acetate. Notably, this strategy can sustain bacterial growth and has a high yield, with approximately 90% of the electrons being directed towards acetate production.

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References

  1. Sakimoto, K. K., Wong, A. B. & Yang, P. Self-photosensitization of nonphotosynthetic bacteria for solar-to-chemical production. Science 351, 74–77 (2016)

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  1. Cláudio Nunes-Alves
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Nunes-Alves, C. Shining a light on biofuels. Nat Rev Microbiol 14, 63 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro.2016.1

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