Enhancing extracellular biocatalysis through biofilm engineering and mutualistic interactions

227 p.In contrast to free-living cells, biofilms are highly tolerant to environmental stresses, rendering such surface-associated bacterial population or community attractive catalytic systems for biocatalysis. However, the application of biofilms as biocatalysts in chemical and biotechnological industries is still in its infancy, because of the challenges associated with the intrinsic biofilm properties such as mass transfer limitations in biofilms. To alleviate mass transfer issues in biofilm-based biocatalysis, this thesis work focused on the development of robust and efficient biofilm-based extracellular biocatalytic systems through matrix engineering and mutualistic interactions.Singapore Centre For Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE) Interdisciplinary Graduate School (IGS) Nanyang Technological University (NTU)Doctor of Philosophy (IGS