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Updated: May 21, 2026

Liquid Chromatography Coupled to Refractive Index or Mass Spectrometric Detection for Metabolite Profiling in Lysate-based Cell-free Systems
Published on: September 23, 2021
Recent progress in synthetic biology for microbial production of C3-C10 alcohols
1Department of Chemistry, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
Abstract:
The growing need to address current energy and environmental problems has sparked an interest in developing improved biological methods to produce liquid fuels from renewable sources. While microbial ethanol production is well established, higher-chain alcohols possess chemical properties that are more similar to gasoline. Unfortunately, these alcohols (except 1-butanol) are not produced efficiently in natural microorganisms, and thus economical production in industrial volumes remains a challenge. Synthetic biology, however, offers additional tools to engineer synthetic pathways in user-friendly hosts to help increase titers and productivity of these advanced biofuels. This review concentrates on recent developments in synthetic biology to produce higher-chain alcohols as viable renewable replacements for traditional fuel.
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