Extremophile microorganisms as a source of highly productive enzymes for CO2 reduction to formic acid and other C1 fuels and platform chemicals

To achieve independence from fossil resources, a promising option for our society are the new bioapplications of formate or formic acid as hydrogen storage molecules and raw material for high-value chemicals. However, currently the chemical reduction of CO2 to formate requires expensive platinum group metals. The Aalto-VTT collaborational ExtremoForm project aims to mine new cold- and acidity-adapted enzymes from the environment. These biocatalysts with superior performance under extreme conditions will enable sustainable production of formic acid from CO2 at low temperatures. ExtremoForm will express, purify and engineer these enzymes to develop powerful sustainable biocatalytic tools for CO2 capture by exploiting Mo and W instead of the Pt group metals. The new ExtremoForm formate dehydrogenases will provide a great opportunity to expand the product scope to also other CO2-derived platform chemicals or solvents (e.g. formic esters, formamides).