[Modern Approaches to the Creation of Industrial Microorganism Strains]

Microorganism producer strains are the basis of industrial biotechnology. Their properties determine the economical parameters of the production. Methods of rational design (metabolic engineering) and combinatorial methods of mutagenesis and selection (laboratory evolution, adaptive evolution, protein and genomic shuffling) are used for the construction of microorganism strains. Combination of these methods is frequently used. Modern strains usually do not contain plasmids and markers of drug resistance. All changes are introduced into the chromosome by the methods of homologous and site-specific recombination. The sum of such approaches is called recombineering. Gene expression is carried out at the optimal level under the control of promoters of a certain power (frequently regulated). Knowledge of a complete genomic sequence is almost a mandatory condition for the use of methods of metabolic engineering. Bioinformatics significantly assists in the selection of enzymes and the search for necessary genes and metabolic reactions. Measurement of metabolic fluxes largely assists in the construction of strains. The current level of science makes it possible to construct metabolic pathways de novo in strains for the production of chemicals and biofuel. Carbon dioxide has potential as a raw material for microbiological industry; therefore, the study of CO2 fixation by acetogens and electrogens is a promising direction of studies.