Synthetic Biology Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea.
Department of Biosystems and Bioengineering, Korea University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea.
J Microbiol Biotechnol. 2023 Nov 28;33(11):1403-1411. doi: 10.4014/jmb.2306.06005. Epub 2023 Jun 26.
Carbon dioxide (CO) is the most abundant component of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and directly creates environmental issues such as global warming and climate change. Carbon capture and storage have been proposed mainly to solve the problem of increasing CO concentration in the atmosphere; however, more emphasis has recently been placed on its use. Among the many methods of using CO, one of the key environmentally friendly technologies involves biologically converting CO into other organic substances such as biofuels, chemicals, and biomass via various metabolic pathways. Although an efficient biocatalyst for industrial applications has not yet been developed, biological CO conversion is the needed direction. To this end, this review briefly summarizes seven known natural CO fixation pathways according to carbon number and describes recent studies in which natural CO assimilation systems have been applied to heterogeneous in vivo and in vitro systems. In addition, studies on the production of methanol through the reduction of CO are introduced. The importance of redox cofactors, which are often overlooked in the CO assimilation reaction by enzymes, is presented; methods for their recycling are proposed. Although more research is needed, biological CO conversion will play an important role in reducing GHG emissions and producing useful substances in terms of resource cycling.
二氧化碳（CO）是温室气体（GHGs）中最丰富的成分，直接导致了全球变暖、气候变化等环境问题。碳捕集和封存技术主要是为了解决大气中 CO 浓度不断增加的问题而提出的；然而，最近人们更加重视 CO 的利用。在 CO 的多种利用方法中，一种关键的环保技术是通过各种代谢途径将 CO 生物转化为其他有机物质，如生物燃料、化学品和生物质。尽管尚未开发出用于工业应用的高效生物催化剂，但生物 CO 转化是未来的发展方向。为此，本文简要总结了根据碳数划分的 7 种已知的天然 CO 固定途径，并描述了最近将天然 CO 同化系统应用于非均相体内和体外系统的研究。此外，还介绍了通过 CO 还原生产甲醇的研究。本文提出了酶催化 CO 同化反应中经常被忽视的氧化还原辅助因子的重要性及其循环利用方法。尽管还需要进一步研究，但从减少温室气体排放和资源循环利用生产有用物质的角度来看，生物 CO 转化将发挥重要作用。
