title: Cyanobacteria as a Platform for Biofuel Production.
abstract: Cyanobacteria have great potential as a platform for biofuel production because of their fast growth, ability to fix carbon dioxide gas, and their genetic tractability. Furthermore they do not require fermentable sugars or arable land for growth and so competition with cropland would be greatly reduced. In this perspective we discuss the challenges and areas for improvement most pertinent for advancing cyanobacterial fuel production, including: improving genetic parts, carbon fixation, metabolic flux, nutrient requirements on a large scale, and photosynthetic efficiency using natural light.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of California Davis , Davis, CA , USA.
authors.forename: Nicole E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Nozzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of California Davis , Davis, CA , USA.
authors.forename: John W K
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Oliver
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of California Davis , Davis, CA , USA.
authors.forename: Shota
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Atsumi
keywords: biofuel; cyanobacteria; metabolic engineering; photosynthesis; synthetic biology