Ingeniería metabólica de Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942

Resumen

Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 belongs to the group of cyanobacteria, organisms that only need sunlight, carbon dioxide, water and a little amount of nutrients for growth. These characteristics, alongside the recent advances in genetic modification technology and metabolic engineering, make them be one of the most attractive candidates to use them in biotechnological applications. In this thesis, we performed some different strategies and experiments to modify the cyanobacteria Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 using genetic and metabolic engineering, with the aim of obtaining a more attractive chassis to use in industrial processes. On the one hand, we improved the generation time of this cyanobacteria using experimental evolution, with the aim of shortening the industrial processes. On the other hand, we produced alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid with nutritional importance. Thirdly, we developed a metabolic model of Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, which allows us to identify new targets to increase the omega-3 fatty acid production.