Licensing Opportunity: Inducible Promoter for Gene Expression Control in Clostridium Thermocellum
Closed Special Notice Posted
- Solicitation number
- 2024-09-11_D
- Agency
-
Department of Energy
- Responses due
- Set-aside
- No set-aside
Opportunity facts
- Place of performance
- Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, United States
- Points of contact
Notice details come from SAM.gov. Updated .
About this opportunity
The Department of Energy has issued a Special Notice for a licensing opportunity related to an inducible promoter for gene expression control in the thermophilic bacterium Clostridium thermocellum. This technology allows for time- and dose-dependent activation of gene expression in C. thermocellum, which can be used to improve the efficiency and yield of target biofuels and chemicals through consolidated bioprocessing.
The purpose of this Special Notice is to make this inducible promoter technology available for licensing. The technology can enable more precise engineering of gene expression pathways in C. thermocellum, a promising microorganism for biofuel production due to its ability to perform both lignocellulose degradation and fermentation. The Special Notice is open to all interested parties, and does not have any set-aside requirements. Interested parties must submit inquiries by October 26, 2024 to learn more about licensing this technology from the Department of Energy.
Notice text
Invention Reference Number: 202405602
This technology can activate gene expression in a time- and dose-dependent manner in the thermophilic bacterium Clostridium thermocellum. This system will mediate inducible gene expression for strain engineering in C. thermocellum as well as in genotype-to-phenotype discovery studies. C. thermocellum is an anaerobic thermophile capable of degrading lignocellulose to sugars and fermenting those sugars into commodity chemicals such as ethanol, which eliminates the need for extra feedstock processing, a process known as consolidated bioprocessing (CBP). The inducible promoter used in this technology works at high temperatures, unlike other promoters.
Description
Degradation and fermentation of lignocellulosic biomass via CBP along with more precise engineering of gene expression pathways for conversion to target chemicals is a promising strategy to reduce the cost and complexity of biofuel production. C. thermocellum is an ideal microorganism due to its ability to perform both the degradation and fermentation steps via this CBP strategy. Current genetic engineering tools like inducible promoters are insufficient to engineer C. thermocellum due to its growth at high temperatures. This invention is a design of a heterologous inducible promoter that is induced by an inexpensive, non-metabolizable compound to achieve stable and sustained gene expression in C. thermocellum at high temperatures. This new genetic engineering tool can help accelerate the engineering and identification of new gene functions to improve the efficiency and yield of target biofuels and chemicals.
Benefits
- Increased ethanol production
- More efficient process
- Works at high temperature
- Can control gene expression levels and improve yields
- Can be used in other thermophilic bacteria
- Eliminates extra step of chemical processing
Applications and Industries
- Ethanol production
- Genetic engineering
Contact
To learn more about this technology, email partnerships@ornl.gov or call 865-574-1051.
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