Synthetic biology for CO2 fixation

Recycling of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) into fuels and chemicals is a potential approach to reduce CO 2 emission and fossil-fuel consumption. Autotrophic microbes can utilize energy from light, hydrogen, or sulfur to assimilate atmospheric CO 2 into organic compounds at ambient temperature and pressure. This provides a feasible way for biological production of fuels and chemicals from CO 2 under normal conditions. Recently great progress has been made in this research area, and dozens of CO 2 -derived fuels and chemicals have been reported to be synthesized by autotrophic microbes. This is accompanied by investigations into natural CO 2 -fixation pathways and the rapid development of new technologies in synthetic biology. This review first summarizes the six natural CO 2 -fixation pathways reported to date, followed by an overview of recent progress in the design and engineering of CO 2 -fixation pathways as well as energy supply patterns using the concept and tools of synthetic biology. Finally, we will discuss future prospects in biological fixation of CO 2 .