title: Photosynthetic approaches to chemical biotechnology.
abstract: National interest and environmental advocates encourage alternatives to petroleum-based products. Besides biofuels, many other valuable chemicals used in every-day life are petroleum derivatives or require petroleum for their production. A plausible alternative to production using petroleum for chemical production is to harvest the abundant carbon dioxide resources in the environment to produce valuable hydrocarbons. Currently, efforts are being made to utilize a natural biological system, photosynthetic microorganisms, to perform this task. Photosynthetic microorganisms are attractive to use for biochemical production because they utilize economical resources for survival: sunlight and carbon dioxide. This review examines the various compounds produced by photosynthetic microorganisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, United States.
authors.forename: Shuchi H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Desai
authors.forename: Shota
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Atsumi
mesh_terms: D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism; D056804:Biofuels / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000378:metabolism; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000600:supply & distribution; D058086:Microalgae / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000528:radiation effects; D010860:Pigments, Biological / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D056804:Biofuels; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D010860:Pigments, Biological; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D006859:Hydrogen