FURI | Spring 2025

Utilizing the L-Serine Transport System for Modularization of the Monoethanolamine Pathway

Atmospheric CO₂ is the primary contributor to climate change, but post-combustion capture through chemical absorption may decrease future emissions. While microbial bioproduction of chemicals like monoethanolamine (MEA) provide a sustainable method of synthesis, bacterial strains can be limited when accommodating synthetic pathways. To overcome this, separating modules of MEA production across multiple Escherichia coli strains provides a modular engineering approach that divides cell labor between co-culture members, thereby allowing for improved production of the MEA precursor, serine, and separately, decarboxylation of serine to MEA. Insights from this approach could improve co-culturing methods and MEA bioproduction, thus increasing CO₂ absorption capacity.