Hydrocarbon-Free Products from Microorganisms

I began my research in my fourth year at university, investigating microorganisms that produce amino acids. I fed the microorganisms sugar as food, and they fermented it to create glutamic acid, a type of amino acid.
This fermentation involves about 15 to 20 different metabolic (chemical reaction) steps. Microorganisms not only make this glutamate but also possess various chemical reaction pathways (metabolic pathways) to maintain biological functions. It was necessary to quantitatively analyze these pathways, which were unclear at the time.

Metabolic flux analysis is a technique used to study complex metabolic reaction pathways. This involves labeling cells with the stable isotope of carbon, 13C, to determine the flow, branching, and rate of metabolic reactions within the cell, which are then analyzed quantitatively using a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GCMS) and nuclear magnetic resonator (NMR). In addition, a high-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) is used to examine cellular by-products. Analysis is essential for our metabolic analysis and cell-based experiments and manufacturing, and analytical instruments are indispensable for this purpose. This has not changed at all since I started conducting this research.

tIt is essential to conduct biotechnology experiments to create the enzymes based on the pathways designed using simulations. This is called synthetic biology, and its development cycle is called the “DBTL cycle,” an acronym for design (D: genetic design), build (B: microorganism creation), test (T: evaluation of products), and learn (L: predictive learning). In my research, I create a design (D) using multiple design tools, including “BioProV,” to optimize metabolic pathways and then perform experiments by building (B) microorganisms that produce actual enzymes. Next, we test (T) to evaluate how efficiently the microorganisms produce the material. In the learn (L) step, we use the results to enable the simulation software to learn and further optimize the design of the pathway. One of my strengths is that I have a background in applied biology, which allows me to understand the whole picture.
Companies face the possibility of losing market share in Europe if they continue to use exclusively hydrocarbon-based raw materials for plastic. In addition, they need to be more environmentally responsible due to shareholder demands. As a result, the application of biomanufacturing to these issues needs to be urgently accelerated. Although it will be difficult to replace all plastics with non-hydrocarbon-derived materials in terms of production volume and cost, I feel it is my responsibility as a scientist to promote research in Japan, where hydrocarbons are not easily extracted, so society is not reliant on fossil-based materials.