Engineered Microbes for the Conversion of CO₂ into Valuable Biobased Products

The rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) present an urgent environmental problem
because they drive both global climate change and environmental instability. Microalgae serve as
effective biological systems that capture carbon because they possess exceptional photosynthetic
capabilities and fast growth rates and they transform carbon into useful biomass products.
Microalgae produce biomass which includes lipids and other biochemical substances that serve as
feedstocks for creating renewable biofuels. The research study investigates the marine microalga
Picochlorum sp. BDUG100241 which is collected from the National Facility for Marine
Cyanobacteria at Bharathidasan University in Tiruchirappalli.The project was executed through
two distinct operational stages. The first phase is required to conduct an in-silico study which
examined the molecular mechanisms that control carbon fixation processes. The NCBI and UniProt
databases is used to discover vital genes which participate in both photosynthesis and carbon
metabolism functions. Bioinformatic tools such as BLAST and STRING and Cytoscape and
CytoHubba and ShinyGO to examine sequence similarity and protein–protein interaction networks
and metabolic pathways that support carbon fixation. It conducts experiments to raise Picochlorum
sp. in laboratory settings and they assess its development rate and biomass output and carbon
dioxide absorption capacity. Researchers developed nutrient media and established culture
standardization procedures and constructed CO₂ delivery systems to enhance algal growth. The
upcoming studies will focus on lipid extraction and biofuel potential assessment. They isolate
naturally occurring algal species from environmental water samples to compare their growth and
biofuel productivity with Picochlorum sp. samples. The integrated method which combines
computational analysis with experimental cultivation that demonstrates the microalgae serve as
sustainable biological solutions for carbon reduction and renewable energy generation.The culture
has been successfully established and the growth phase is currently being studied. The subsequent
phase will involve algae characterization work.