Alternative routes to biofuels: light-driven biofuel formation from CO2 and water based on the 'photanol' approach.

For a sustainable energy future, the development of efficient biofuel production systems is an important prerequisite. Here we describe an approach in which basic reactions from phototrophy are combined in single organisms with key metabolic routes from chemotrophic organisms, with C(3) sugars as Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate as the central linking intermediate. Because various metabolic routes that lead to the formation of a range of short-chain alcohols can be used in this approach, we refer to it as the photanol approach. Various strategies can be explored to optimize this biofuel production strategy.