The process developed by Global Bioenergies is based on the design of an artificial metabolic pathway comprised of several enzymes that catalyze reactions not observed in nature. This breakthrough could revolutionize the way producers and consumers perceive bio-fuels and bio-materials.

For centuries, a range of industrial processes have been based on the use of naturally occurring microorganisms to produce key molecules. For instance, brewer’s yeast is used to convert sugars into ethanol, and fungi are used to produce antibiotics.

However, those examples of natural organisms producing a substance at a yield sufficient to allow for direct industrial applications remain exceptions. Micro-organisms do produce a variety of industrially relevant substances, but usually at a yield far too low to be used commercially.

For the past two decades, genetic engineering technologies have made possible the modification of the metabolism of micro-organisms, and hence their use to produce key substances that they would otherwise produce at only low yields. By enhancing naturally occurring metabolic pathways, these technologies open up new ways to bio-produce numerous compounds of industrial relevance. Several industrial compounds such as amino-acids for animal feed, biodegradable plastics or textile fibers are now routinely produced using genetically modified organisms.

There are, however, no bio-processes using micro-organisms in place for the production of the major petrochemically derived molecules, the light olefins (ethylene, propylene, isobutene, n-butene, butadiene), since no micro-organisms are known to be natural producers of olefins even in small quantities. Therefore, without a micro-organism as a starting point, the conventional genetic engineering techniques cannot be applied. This situation, where the largest petrochemical markets remained elusive to a bio-production approach was considered to be a business opportunity and a technical challenge for Global Bioenergies.

The concept is to create artificial metabolic pathways consisting of a series of previously unknown enzymatic activities leading to the synthesis of metabolic intermediates that are not observed in nature. This new approach, termed “synthetic biology,” is an emerging scientific field focusing on the ex nihilo generation of biological objects using new concepts in enzymology and metabolic engineering.

A first major success has been obtained with the bio-production process of isobutene. This major achievement has required modifying several enzymes so that they each catalyze one specific reaction of the artificial metabolic pathway. Subsequently, these enzymes have been integrated into a bacterium which was then shown to be able to convert sugar into isobutene in vivo. The conversion yield is now being continuously improved using standard genetic engineering tools.

This world breakthrough opens new perspectives for industrial biology and is expected to replace traditional chemical processes. Beyond its intrinsic industrial value, the accomplishment of the bio-production of isobutene opens a door to new possibilities in the field of bio-fuels and bio-chemicals – a field of increasing importance for our 21^st century world.