Project Introduction

Solar-to-Electricity Conversion for Driving CO₂ Fixation and Glycerol Production in Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Project Overview:

The climate crisis is one of the most pressing challenges facing humanity today, leading to global warming, increasingly frequent extreme weather events, and ecosystem collapse. The emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide is one of the primary drivers of this crisis^[1], making CO₂ mitigation a major focus of current research. At present, industrial carbon fixation biotechnologies mainly fall into two categories: one relies on heterotrophic fermentation to convert CO₂ into carbon-based compounds, and the other utilizes photoautotrophs to directly fix CO₂ while producing fuels and chemicals. However, both approaches suffer from low efficiency and inherent limitations^[2]. Meanwhile, the energy crisis poses another severe challenge that directly impacts global sustainability and human survival^[3]. Converting solar energy into electricity via microorganisms and subsequently storing that energy in the form of chemical bonds presents a promising solution^[4].

Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans is a chemolithoautotrophic bacterium capable of fixing CO₂ and harvesting energy by oxidizing ferrous iron and reduced sulfur compounds^[5]. The CUG-China 2025 team aims to enhance the carbon fixation efficiency of A. ferrooxidans using synthetic biology strategies, enabling the biosynthesis of valuable chemical products while facilitating a full energy conversion cascade from solar energy to electricity and ultimately to chemical energy. To realize this, we have designed three core functional modules: a carbon fixation module, an electron transfer module, and a glycerol biosynthesis module. These modules are integrated into a microbial electrosynthesis platform, establishing a system that effectively converts solar energy into electrical and then chemical energy. This approach offers high efficiency, environmental compatibility, and strong potential for future application.

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