Enhancing biofuel-production by a novel strain of Clostridia isolated from Omani Desert Soil Crust

With the current volatility in the crude oil market, the need for finding a sustainable and renewable source of energy is a top priority for many nations around the world. As of late, the genus Clostridia has been under increased interest from the global scientific committee due to their importance to both the medical and industrial fields. In our recent work, we have successfully isolated and cultured a potentially novel species of Clostridia from Omani biological desert soil curst in Jabal Akhdar. Preliminary metabolic product profiling indicate that this undescribed species of Clostridia are able to produce short chain alcohols, such as butanol and ethanol, that can be used as biofuels. We hypothesize that this novel species of Clostridia can be genetically and metabolically engineered for enhanced biofuels production. The aim of our proposed work is to further characterize the optimum growth conditions for biofuel production. Furthermore, increased metabolic flux towards biofuels production will be attempted by using established genetic engineering tools for this genus. Finally, optimization, scale-up and potential commercialization of the best biofuel-producing strain will be conducted in collaboration with Elcriton, Inc. (Delaware, USA).