Purpose

The vision of ProCatal Technologies is to develop an artificial metabolism (AM) platform that can be configured to produce any desired organic molecule from simple and abundant precursors using passive energy sources. One possible configuration would allow conversion of atmospheric carbon dioxide into practical compounds using solar radiation as an energy source (Figure 1.), but any number of other configurations are possible. Any carbon based compound could be used as a precursor, and any energy source—passive or otherwise—could drive the process. Different configurations will allow for the production of virtually any organic compound from the simplest precursors. This technology is an example of ex nihilo manufacturing that could be used to produce food, medications, textiles, building materials, or fuel.

Essential for Long Term Space Habitation

Systems using ex nihilo manufacturing will be essential for any type of extended human presence away from Earth, where everything will have to be made from scratch. One idea for accomplishing this is to use living things—mainly plants—as primary food and oxygen producers. This is inefficient because a plant, in addition to producing a desired product, has the overhead of being alive and reproducing. This limitation would not be present in a system that utilizes artificial metabolism (AM), which would be significantly more efficient. Similar to how artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to out-perform biological intelligence, AM has the potential to out-perform biological metabolism. A properly designed AM system could produce everything required for long term space habitation, including oxygen, all food, medications, and a variety of other materials that cannot be brought from Earth.

Strategy

Much of what humans depend on for life is produced by biological metabolism in a sequence of catalyzed reactions. Artificial metabolism will follow the same strategy. In biological systems, many of the valuable products are produced via secondary metabolism, which is a lower priority than central metabolism. An AM system can focus completely on producing the product of interest without the overhead of keeping the organism alive. While biological metabolism uses enzymes as catalysts for the individual reaction steps, advanced AM will utilize catalysts that are independent of a living organism. Enzymes, however, are excellent catalysts and are a good starting point for AM systems. Early AM systems will use enzymes directly isolated from organisms, with minor modifications, arranged into the necessary sequence. Advanced systems will use protein-based catalysts that are specifically designed and produced outside of a living system. The feasibility of this idea is demonstrated by advances in the field of in vitro translation. Life has already worked out a number of reaction sequences that could be profitably adapted into an AM system. Adapting a system already developed by Nature into an AM system provides a practical starting point that could be modified and evolved for commercial purposes.

There are several advantages of protein-based catalysts in AM systems over inorganic rare earth catalysts that are often employed. The most significant advantage is sustainability. Just as the products of an AM system can be produced from scratch, so can the protein-based catalysts themselves. As enzymes demonstrate, protein-based catalysts can be highly efficient and specific for a given reaction, and they can be modified and evolved by editing the amino acid sequence. Because the catalysts can be produced from scratch, the system can be scaled to desired levels by increasing the volume of catalyst. The technology for this already exists, and making it a reality is a matter of implementation.

Our strategy is to take a simple system, involving a small number of enzymes, and use it to quickly generate a revenue stream. This revenue stream is intended to support the company while it maintains an active research and development program. The ultimate goal will be to evolve and expand the technology in the direction of complete ex nihilo manufacturing.

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info@procatal.com