Engineering bacteria for production of sustainable polycyclopropanated jet fuel alternatives

Abstract

Replacing petroleum-based fuels in high-power sectors like aviation and rocketry is a major sustainability challenge. Polycyclopropanated hydrocarbons provide excellent fuel characteristics for these applications, but their synthesis is challenging. Cruz-Morales et al. demonstrated microbial production of a range of polycyclopropanated ‘fuelimycins' based on an unusual iterative polyketide synthase (iPKS).