Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Irene Otero-Muras, Pablo Carbonell
Summary: Metabolic engineering involves optimizing processes from single-cell to fermentation to increase production of valuable chemicals. A systems approach has accelerated scaling from rapid prototyping to industrial production, with automated DNA assembly reducing time from conception to production. The success of metabolic engineering often relies on retrobiosynthetic protocols and dynamic regulation strategies assembled as genetic circuits in host strains.
METABOLIC ENGINEERING
(2021)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Camille Peiro, Claudia M. Vicente, Denis Jallet, Stephanie Heux
Summary: Engineering microorganisms to grow on alternative feedstocks is crucial for biotechnological applications and advancing our understanding of microbial metabolism. Synthetic methylotrophy, which involves completely changing a microorganism's lifestyle and utilizing methanol as a sole carbon source, is the pinnacle of metabolic engineering. Recent advances in optimizing host metabolism, mixing and matching enzymes, and creating novel enzymatic functions have propelled the field of synthetic methylotrophy further than ever before.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Gwendolyn J. Gregory, R. Kyle Bennett, Eleftherios T. Papoutsakis
Summary: The abundant natural gas reserves and increased biogas production have led to a growing interest in using methane as an industrial feedstock. Methane can be used directly for fermentation or converted to methanol via biological or chemical means. Synthetic methylotrophs, or non-methylotrophic platform microorganisms like E. coli, have been engineered to overcome the limitations of native methylotrophs for industrial applications. This review discusses recent progress in synthetic methylotrophy and the strategies for realizing the industrial potential of synthetic methylotrophs and methanotrophs.
METABOLIC ENGINEERING
(2022)
Review
Biochemical Research Methods
Patrick A. Sanford, Benjamin M. Woolston
Summary: Recent metabolic engineering efforts to import C1 catabolic pathways into non-methylotrophic bacteria have led to synthetic strains growing on methanol, but their growth rates and product yields are still inferior to native methylotrophs. Moreover, the development of genetic engineering tools has made native C1 utilizers more tractable, raising the question of whether it is better to use an engineered strain or a native host for the microbial assimilation of C1 substrates.
CURRENT OPINION IN BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Arslan Sarwar, Eun Yeol Lee
Summary: Methanol is gaining attention as a potential carbon substrate for the production of fuels and chemicals due to its high reduction degree, abundance, and low price. Both native and synthetic methylotrophic microorganisms have been investigated for the production of biofuels and chemicals. However, the complex metabolic pathways, limited availability of genetic tools, and toxicity issues still pose challenges for achieving high-level production for commercial purposes. This article reviews the production of biofuels and chemicals from methanol by native and synthetic methylotrophs and discusses ways to improve their efficiency.
SYNTHETIC AND SYSTEMS BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Ya-Hue Valerie Soong, Sarah M. Coleman, Na Liu, Jiansong Qin, Carl Lawton, Hal S. Alper, Dongming Xie
Summary: More than 200 million tons of plant oils and animal fats are produced annually worldwide. To increase the value of waste oils or fats and expand their applications, microbial biomanufacturing is presented as an effective strategy. Yarrowia lipolytica, a yeast, is considered one of the most attractive platforms due to its unique capabilities for efficient catabolism and bioconversion of lipids. This review discusses the challenges and opportunities for Y. lipolytica as a new biomanufacturing platform for value-added products from oils and fats.
BIOTECHNOLOGY ADVANCES
(2023)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Congqiang Zhang, Christoph Ottenheim, Melanie Weingarten, LiangHui Ji
Summary: The global shift towards sustainability has led to the exploration of alternative feedstocks for biomanufacturing. C1 and C2 substrates, such as CO2, CO, methane, formate, methanol, acetate, and ethanol, are gaining attention due to their natural abundance and low production cost. Advances in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology have improved the efficiency of using these feedstocks by microbes, which can be further engineered to convert them into valuable products.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Xiaoxin Zhai, Jiaoqi Gao, Yunxia Li, Martin Grininger, Yongjin J. Zhou
Summary: Methanol is an ideal feedstock for chemical and biological manufacturing. Constructing an efficient cell factory is essential for producing complex compounds through methanol biotransformation. This study demonstrates that compartmentalizing fatty alcohol biosynthesis and methanol utilization in peroxisomes significantly improves fatty alcohol production in methylotrophic yeast.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Jian-Wen Ye, Yi-Na Lin, Xue-Qing Yi, Zhuo-Xuan Yu, Xu Liu, Guo-Qiang Chen
Summary: Microbial biomanufacturing has gained increasing interest for diverse product production, with extremophiles showing better performance for cost-effective production due to their exceptional growth and synthesis capacity under stress conditions. This review highlights the growing number of products already manufactured using extremophiles and also summarizes genetic parts, molecular tools, and manipulation approaches for extremophile engineering. Next-generation industrial biotechnology based on engineered extremophiles promises to simplify biomanufacturing processes, achieve open and continuous fermentation without sterilization, and utilize low-cost substrates, making it an attractive green process for sustainable manufacturing.
TRENDS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Biochemical Research Methods
Meng Chai, Chen Deng, Qi Chen, Wei Lu, Yanfeng Liu, Jianghua Li, Guocheng Du, Xueqin Lv, Long Liu
Summary: Corynebacterium glutamicum is widely used in industrial white biotechnology for producing amino acids, fuels, and value-added chemicals. Synthetic biology strategies have been employed for designing and constructing C. glutamicum cells for biomanufacturing and bioremediation. This study focuses on the design and construction of engineered C. glutamicum strains using genomic modification, metabolic flux optimization, and directed evolution, and discusses the applications of C. glutamicum cell factories and future trends.
ACS SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Feng Guo, Zhongxue Dai, Wenfang Peng, Shangjie Zhang, Jie Zhou, Jiangfeng Ma, Weiliang Dong, Fengxue Xin, Wenming Zhang, Min Jiang
Summary: The study demonstrates the application of rational design and gene regulation in engineeringP. pastoristo produce malic acid from sole methanol, achieving a significant increase in malic acid yield through optimization of accumulation modules and gene knockouts. The results provide important guidance and reference for metabolic engineering ofP. pastoristo produce value-added chemicals.
BIOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOENGINEERING
(2021)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Nils Wagner, Linxuan Wen, Claudio J. R. Frazao, Thomas Walther
Summary: Microbial fermentation processes are important for reducing reliance on fossil fuels in the production of everyday chemicals. To meet future demand for biotechnology products, alternative carbon sources that do not compete with human nutrition need to be utilized. The conversion of CO2 into usable platform chemicals like methanol through microbial synthesis has gained scientific interest. Ethylene glycol, which can be synthesized from CO2 and non-edible biomass or recovered from plastic waste, is also a promising carbon source. This article provides an overview of the chemical routes for methanol and ethylene glycol synthesis, as well as recent advancements in metabolic engineering for microbial assimilation pathways. The advantages of synthetic metabolic routes and the potential of ethylene glycol as a C2 substrate are highlighted.
BIOTECHNOLOGY ADVANCES
(2023)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Mireille M. J. P. E. Sthijns, Clemens A. van Blitterswijk, Vanessa L. S. LaPointe
Summary: This review proposed a novel strategy to generate tissue-specific ECM by releasing metabolic molecules through a synthetic material, which stimulates cells to form their own ECM. The approach is based on the modulation of ECM properties via cellular metabolism, targeting different levels of metabolism to achieve desired effects.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Justine Turlin, Beau Dronsella, Alberto De Maria, Steffen N. Lindner, Pablo I. Nikel
Summary: In this study, we used Pseudomonas putida as a platform for synthetic formate assimilation and successfully engineered a strain that can utilize formate as a carbon source. Through laboratory evolution, we achieved significant reduction in doubling times. Our findings expand the landscape of microbial platforms for C1-based biotechnological production.
METABOLIC ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Henning Kirst, Bryan H. Ferlez, Steffen N. Lindner, Charles A. R. Cotton, Arren Bar-Even, Cheryl A. Kerfeld
Summary: This article introduces a prototype technology using bacterial microcompartments to synthesize formate. The technology utilizes oxygen-sensitive glycyl radical enzyme and a phosphate acyltransferase to convert formate into pyruvate, and provides a well-defined environment for efficient formate growth.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)