Abstract
The present invention consists of in vitro methods of reconstituting, manipulating and coupling multistep biochemical reactions or complete biochemical processes usually encountered in living cells using extracellular components of the intracellular metabolism (substrates, enzymes, co-factors) naturally present in soil matrix after sterilisation, such components of the intracellular metabolism may alternatively be added to said sterilized soil matrix.This invention lies on the discovery that the soil matrix contains numerous extracellular bio- and chemical catalysts (enzymes, metals, minerals) able to mediate the multistep chemical reactions typically found in living cells; this phenomenon has been firstly described by Maire et al. (Biogeosciences, 10, 1155-1167, 2013) who highlighted a respiratory release of CO2 from sterilized soils.The article from Maire et al. raised several questions from the scientific community regarding the fact that the observed chemical reactions could only be mediated by extracellular soil components and if the tested soil was properly sterilized.The Inventors pursue the works presented by Maire et al.; they confirmed those observations and also the occurrence of biochemical reactions mediated by extracellular catalytic components, they further demonstrated a high stabilisation of those extracellular catalytic components in the soil (maintenance of catalytic activities during >1600 days) (submitted manuscript).Based on these additional results, the Inventors have developed biocatalytic complex composed of sterilized soil in which complex multistep biochemical reactions may be carried out; such biocatalytic complex can be used in bioreactors for:1)The production of electricity due to the deep or complete oxidation of organic compounds in biofuel cell.2)The production of organic components of interest through a metabolic engineering using soil catalysts and/or soil matrix to stabilize enzymes, an alternative to current approach based on genetically modified organisms. The considered products are fuels, foods and chemical compounds with added value. The invention can also be used to convert mineral compounds (H2O, CO2) and electricity into organic compounds which can further be used as source of energy in proposed biofuel cell or other systems. Therefore, this electrochemical conversion represents a mean to store energy.