Yeast-based solutions for sustainable Aviation Fuels (YAF) aims to transform industrial biowaste into sustainable biofuels through precision fermentation. The consortium comprises six members, Tallinn University of Technology being one of them. TalTech Bioengineering team´s expertise includes:
- Bioconversion of residual carbon sources into mono-terpenes using R. toruloides. Development of new tools for metabolic engineering. Establishment of rapid screening of terpene-producing strains using (FTIR) platform.
- Enzyme design towards more efficient production of mono-terpenes used in SAFs. Development of bioinformatics tools for enzyme design. Automatization of metabolic engineering and enzyme design and engineering
- Development of new tools to accelerate the production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) in Y. lipolytica by: 1) Development of a multiplexed CRISPR-based toolbox, which makes strain improvement 2-5 times faster. 2) Use genome-scale models to predict targets for the multiplexed technology to redirect metabolic fluxes toward SAF precursors. 3) Use the toolbox to accumulate either terpenes or fatty acids.
The project, funded by the European Commission under Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie program, runs from 1.12.2023 – 30.11.2027
More information can be found on the project website.