Chapter 23 - Microbiology of Platform Chemical Biorefinery and Metabolic Engineering

Abstract

Advancements in the field of metabolic engineering have improved the production of various chemicals through the microbial route. Due to a reduced dependence on petroleum feedstock more focus is being shown toward employing renewable resources for commodity and high-valued chemicals. The use of microbial systems as biorefineries illustrates one approach toward this independence from petroleum. Biorefinery research is being actively pursued in both developed and developing countries, employing systems metabolic engineering to engineer microbial strains to produce a wide range of value-added biochemicals. With the advancements in metabolic engineering, the manufacture of industrially important platform chemicals using microorganisms from renewable resources is becoming economically feasible. Metabolic engineering strategies are aided by the development of high-throughput technologies, which include, but are not limited to, omics data for various environmental and genetic perturbations. This chapter will discuss how metabolic engineering contributes synergistically to the successful development of the biorefinery industry.