Synechococcus elongatus as a model of photosynthetic bioreactor for expression of recombinant β-glucosidases.

The T7 system promotes high expression levels of the cloned gene in S. elongatus, demonstrating that the arrangement in which an exclusive RNA polymerase is used for transcription of heterologous genes may contribute to high-level gene expression in cyanobacteria. This work was the first to demonstrate the use of cyanobacteria for the production of recombinant β-glucosidases. This strategy could be an alternative to reduce the release of 1G ethanol by-products such as CO2 and vinasse, not only contributing to decrease the cost of β-glucosidase production, but also mitigating the environmental impacts of ethanol industrial plants.