In this video UC Berkeley Professor Jay Keasling explains why it is he thinks synthetic biology is a key strategy for the production of renewable energy through biofuels.

What is the energy crisis?
What is a biofuel?
What is a renewable energy source?
What is sustainability?
What is the role of synthetic biology in biofuels?
Where does human practices fit in?
What is the role of industry?

Engineered microorganisms are currently used for the production of food products, pharmaceuticals, ethanol fuel and more. Even so, the enormous potential of this technology has yet to be fully exploited. The need for sustainable sources of transportation fuels has generated a tremendous interest in technologies that enable biofuel production. Decades of work have produced a considerable knowledge-base for the physiology and pathway engineering of microbes, making microbial engineering an ideal strategy for producing biofuel.

Microorganisms have been rich sources for natural products, some of which have found use as fuels, commodity chemicals, specialty chemicals, polymers, and drugs, to name a few. The recent interest in production of transportation fuels from renewable resources has catalyzed numerous research endeavors that focus on developing microbial systems for production of such natural products. Eliminating bottlenecks in microbial metabolic pathways and alleviating the stresses due to production of these chemicals are crucial in the generation of robust and efficient production hosts.

The ability to generate microorganisms that can produce biofuels similar to petroleum-based transportation fuels would allow the use of existing engines and infrastructure and would save an enormous amount of capital required for replacing the current infrastructure to accommodate biofuels that have properties significantly different from petroleum-based fuels. Several groups have demonstrated the feasibility of manipulating microbes to produce molecules similar to petroleum-derived products, albeit at relatively low productivity (e.g. maximum butanol production is around 20 g/L).

AMYRIS BIOTECHNOLOGIES has almost finished developing a cheap cure for malaria that could save the lives of millions of the poor. Now, using the same technology, this start-up in Emeryville, Calif., wants to create new biofuels that may help save the planet.

Like proud parents, the organizers of a major new biofuels research center showed off their spacious cradle in Emeryville on Monday and outlined their ambitious agenda of creating and harnessing new microbes to produce the next generation of plant-derived transportation fuel.\r\n\r\nAs part of the nation's quest to combat global warming, the federally funded Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) brings together scientists from three federal labs and three academic institutions to find more effective ways to break down cellulose and convert plant matter into air-friendly fuel.\r\n\r\n"This is a g

A lot of people I talk to are giddy over the prospect of biofuels. I call them "biofools." Anyone who has analyzed the economics and environmental consequences of ethanol production closely will tell you that corn ethanol just doesn't make sense in its current state. It costs us a bundle and actually increases greenhouse gases.

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