Challenge
Feedstock cost represents one of the largest contributors to fermentation economics. Product C sought to combine metabolic engineering with continuous fermentation and low-cost waste-derived feedstocks to significantly reduce manufacturing costs.
The engineering challenge required simultaneous optimisation of pathway design, host metabolism and long-term strain stability.
Canopy design and wet:lab approach
Canopy designed and evaluated approximately 21,000 metabolic pathway architectures, exploring enzyme combinations, operon organisation and expression strategies.
The selected production pathway consisted of:
- Four-gene synthetic operon
- One additional genomic insertion
Canopy further identified 12 targeted genome deletions predicted to redirect metabolic flux towards product formation while maintaining robust cellular growth.
These engineered strains were subsequently validated experimentally in continuous fermentation systems.
Results
The resulting production strain demonstrated:
- Competitive laboratory titres, currently 3–10 g/L, under continued validation
- The highest reported titre in E. coli for a carbon-limited continuous fermentation
- Potential for 100+ hours continuous fermentation
- Successful utilisation of low-cost waste-derived feedstocks
- Estimated 10-fold reduction in process costs through combined feedstock and process innovations
Impact
Unlike many optimisation programmes focused solely on titre, this project targeted total manufacturing economics.
By combining AI-designed strains with continuous bioprocessing and inexpensive feedstocks, the programme demonstrates a practical route towards economically competitive bio-based manufacturing.