Shaping Bacterial cell factories

The lipid bilayer serves as a protective barrier within cells, shaping and safeguarding their functionality, or at least attempting to do so. Certain bacteria, like Clostridium, play a crucial role in producing valuable chemicals, such as butanol — a potential substitute for gasoline. This has the potential to alleviate the planet's reliance on non-renewable resources. However, these bacteria struggle to withstand high levels of butanol, with the lipid bilayer being a prime target, leading to structural instability and, unfortunately, a decline in cell viability.

So, we asked ourselves: What if we alter the membrane composition? This could be the key to addressing this issue. Of course, it's easier said than done. Firstly, changing the lipid composition of a living organism is a complex task. Secondly, there's the uncertainty of whether the cell will survive this engineering process. Lastly, even if the cells do survive, will we achieve the desired outcome?

Despite the challenges, we pushed forward, delving into the intricate world of lipids. We've successfully engineered bacteria with varying lipid profiles, a noteworthy accomplishment. In some cases, these cells opted not to produce butanol or produced it in the same amount as before — a bit frustrating, yet intriguing. We now need to unravel the mysteries of these cells and explore how we can enhance our communication and relationship with them, but those are scenes from the next episodes.

We are hopeful that this approach can optimize numerous other microbial cell factories.

Thanks to these incredible scientists that also happened to be my supervisors.