Application of proteomics and metabolomics in microbial metabolic engineering

Abstract

Construction of microbial cell factories is a feasible strategy for the sustainable production of chemicals, biofuels, and pharmaceutical molecules. However, the complex metabolism and rigid regulation of microbes hinders the efficient synthesis of the products of interest. Proteomics and metabolomics analyze enzymes and metabolites in terms of systems biology, thus unraveling complex biological systems and providing significant clues for microbial metabolic engineering. Here, the applications of proteomics and metabolomics in microbial metabolic engineering were reviewed, including the construction of genome-scale metabolic models, optimization of microbial product synthesis, guidance of microbial stress tolerance engineering, and prediction of rate-limiting steps. In addition, proteomics and metabolomics could be employed to explore secondary metabolic pathways in plants, to reveal novel genes or pathways for microbial synthesis of natural products. Finally, the development of bio-big data was discussed.