Green photocatalytic production of fuel-like hydrocarbons using Fatty Acid Photodecarboxylase – GreenCatFAP

Fatty acid photodecarboxylase (FAP) is one of the few natural photoenzymes described to date. Upon illumination, FAP catalyzes the decarboxylation of long-chain fatty acids (C16-C18), thereby generating hydrocarbons in a single step. Our discovery and initial structural and mechanistic description of FAP has triggered tremendous activity by various laboratories worldwide, with the aim to better understand FAP’s photocatalytic activity and to start exploring its potential in biotechnology. Indeed, FAP has several important potential applications in green chemistry, such as the synthesis of biofuels and high-value chemicals.
Two major obstacles must be overcome in order to optimize FAP for industrial applications: increasing its resistance towards photodegradation and shifting the catalytic efficiency to non-physiological medium-chain fatty acids (C6-C12), yielding liquid fuel-like hydrocarbons. Our project ‘GreenCatFAP’ aims to overcome these obstacles by combining rational design, random mutagenesis and molecular modeling to produce FAP mutants with enhanced photostability and substrate specificity shifted towards shorter substrates.
‘GreenCatFAP’ aims to develop unique biocatalysts that can be integrated into the photoproduction of biofuels, thus helping to move towards zero net carbon emissions. The modified FAP(s) will be used not only in a biocatalysis process converting added oils into hydrocarbons, but also in producing advanced biofuels - with bacteria or photosynthetic microorganisms grown in photo-bioreactors that express FAP and produce their own fatty acids.
If funded, the proposed project will consolidate our leadership in mechanistic studies on FAP and extend it to tailoring the enzyme for biotechnological applications.