Abstract
Production of fuels and chemicals through microbial fermentation of plant material is a desirable alternative to petrochemical-based production. Fermentative production of biorenewable fuels and chemicals requires the engineering of biocatalysts that can quickly and efficiently convert sugars to target products at a cost that is competitive with existing petrochemical-based processes. It is also important that biocatalysts be robust to extreme fermentation conditions, biomass-derived inhibitors, and their target products. Traditional metabolic engineering has made great advances in this area, but synthetic biology has contributed and will continue to contribute to this field, particularly with next-generation biofuels. This work reviews the use of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology in biocatalyst engineering for biorenewable fuels and chemicals production, such as ethanol, butanol, acetate, lactate, succinate, alanine, and xylitol. We also examine the existing challenges in this area and discuss strategies for improving biocatalyst tolerance to chemical inhibitors.
Highlights
Human society has always depended on biomass-derived carbon and energy for nutrition and survival
While Metabolic Engineering has enabled extraordinary advances in the production of commodity chemicals and fuels from biomass, some of which are discussed in this work, we have reached the point where biological functions that do not exist in nature are desired
Foreign genes may be unstable in host cells due to recombination facilitated by mobile DNA elements, and the mobile DNA elements in E. coli K-12 strain have been deleted [37]
Summary
Human society has always depended on biomass-derived carbon and energy for nutrition and survival. Upon elucidation of the biological code and the development of recombinant DNA technology, we have the tools to do more than just select for observable traits—we are able to rationally modify and design metabolic pathways, proteins, and even whole organisms. Much of this rational modification has been in the form of Metabolic Engineering. While Metabolic Engineering has enabled extraordinary advances in the production of commodity chemicals and fuels from biomass, some of which are discussed in this work, we have reached the point where biological functions that do not exist in nature are desired. We discuss successful examples involving the production of commodity fuels and chemicals, with a focus on D- and Llactate, L-alanine, succinate, ethanol, and butanol
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