Abstract
Synthetic polymers are widely used in daily life. Due to increasing environmental concerns related to global warming and the depletion of oil reserves, the development of microbial-based fermentation processes for the production of polymer building block chemicals from renewable resources is desirable to replace current petroleum-based methods. To this end, strains that efficiently produce the target chemicals at high yields and productivity are needed. Recent advances in metabolic engineering have enabled the biosynthesis of polymer compounds at high yield and productivities by governing the carbon flux towards the target chemicals. Using these methods, microbial strains have been engineered to produce monomer chemicals for replacing traditional petroleum-derived aliphatic polymers. These developments also raise the possibility of microbial production of aromatic chemicals for synthesizing high-performance polymers with desirable properties, such as ultraviolet absorbance, high thermal resistance, and mechanical strength. In the present review, we summarize recent progress in metabolic engineering approaches to optimize microbial strains for producing building blocks to synthesize aliphatic and high-performance aromatic polymers.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12934-016-0411-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Since the discovery and commercialization of synthetic polymers, these materials have become essential for everyday life [1]
Genomic sequencing has opened the door for systems metabolic engineering for many industrially important microorganisms, such as Escherichia coli, Corynebacterium glutamicum, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae
We summarize recent knowledge of gene targets for metabolic engineering that efficiently convert glucose to building block chemicals performed primarily in C. glutamicum and E. coli, that permit the synthesis of aliphatic polymer
Summary
Since the discovery and commercialization of synthetic polymers, these materials have become essential for everyday life [1]. We summarize recent knowledge of gene targets for metabolic engineering that efficiently convert glucose to building block chemicals (such as d-lactic acid, succinic acid, adipic acid, putrescine, and cadaverine) performed primarily in C. glutamicum and E. coli, that permit the synthesis of aliphatic polymer.
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