Methane is both a potent greenhouse gas and a valuable but underutilized carbon feedstock. Many high concentration methane streams cannot be utilized due to remoteness and prohibitive cost of installing pipelines or large facilities. One promising solution to utilize this wasted methane is biological methane fixation via methanotrophic bacteria. Methanotrophs have specialized metabolic pathways to import and utilize methane, and future biotechnology processes using engineering methanotrophs could shuttle this carbon to valuable bioproducts. However, genetic engineering of these non-model organisms is challenging and the field still in its infancy. Here we present recent work on engineering the promising industrial methanotroph Methylotuvimicrobium buryatense 5GB1c. Optimized growth systems and media composition allow for more consistent development and high throughput data collection. Using a promoter screen, we identify new expression systems for synthetic biology applications. Finally, in a proof of concept, we utilize a chain-length specific thioesterase to produce medium chain fatty acids directly from methane.
