Scientists at the Max Planck Institute have created a synthetic metabolic pathway that converts carbon dioxide into formaldehyde via acids ant, which offers a carbon-neutral method of producing valuable materials. New synthetic metabolic pathways for carbon dioxide fixation could not only help reduce the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere, but also replace conventional chemical production processes of drugs and active substances with carbon-neutral biological processes. A new study demonstrates a process that can convert carbon dioxide into a valuable material for the biochemical industry through formic acid. Due to the growing emissions of greenhouse gases, carbon sequestration, i.e. the sequestration of carbon dioxide from large sources of emissions, is an urgent issue. In nature, the assimilation of carbon dioxide has been going on for millions of years, but its capacity is far from sufficient to compensate for human-caused emissions. Researchers led by Tobias Erb of the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology are using a set of natural tools to develop new ways to fix carbon dioxide. They have now succeeded in developing an artificial metabolic pathway that produces the highly reactive formaldehyde from formic acid, a possible intermediate of artificial photosynthesis. Formaldehyde could be fed directly into several metabolic pathways to form other valuable substances without any toxic effects. As in a natural process, two primary components are required: energy and carbon. The first can be provided not only by direct sunlight, but also by electricity — for example, from solar modules. (SciTechDaily)