Abstract
Fine chemicals that are physiologically active, such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, nutritional supplements, flavoring agents as well as additives for foods, feed, and fertilizer are produced by enzymatically or through microbial fermentation. The identification of enzymes that catalyze the target reaction makes possible the enzymatic synthesis of the desired fine chemical. The genes encoding these enzymes are then introduced into suitable microbial hosts that are cultured with inexpensive, naturally abundant carbon sources, and other nutrients. Metabolic engineering create efficient microbial cell factories for producing chemicals at higher yields. Molecular genetic techniques are then used to optimize metabolic pathways of genetically and metabolically well-characterized hosts. Synthetic bioengineering represents a novel approach to employ a combination of computer simulation and metabolic analysis to design artificial metabolic pathways suitable for mass production of target chemicals in host strains. In the present review, we summarize recent studies on bio-based fine chemical production and assess the potential of synthetic bioengineering for further improving their productivity.
Highlights
Physiologically active fine chemicals such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, nutritional supplements, flavoring agents as well as additives for foods, feed, and fertilizer are produced enzymatically or through microbial fermentation. Many of these compounds are present naturally, few are commercially available, because most are present in low abundance and may be difficult and expensive to purify. These disadvantages are overcome by bio-based fine chemical synthesis
The advantage of microbial fermentation is that the supply of components required for growth of the host strain and synthesis of the product can be derived from inexpensive sources of carbon, nitrogen, trace elements, and energy [1]
Escherichia coli is often selected as the first candidate for producing target enzymes because of its well-developed genetic engineering system and its ability to express high levels of genes encoding target enzymes
Summary
Development of bio-based fine chemical production through synthetic bioengineering. Hara et al Microbial Cell Factories 2014, 13:173 http://www.microbialcellfactories.com/content/13/1/173. Kiyotaka Y Hara, Michihiro Araki, Naoko Okai, Satoshi Wakai, Tomohisa Hasunuma and Akihiko Kondo2*
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