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Systems biology based metabolic engineering for non-natural chemicals
Alessandra Biz1, Scott Proulx1, Zhiqing Xu1
1Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Biotechnology Advances
|April 7, 2019
Summary
Metabolic engineering now enables microbes to produce non-natural chemicals using synthetic biology. This review covers advances in computational tools, enzyme design, and pathway engineering for microbial chemical production.
Area of Science:
- Microbial biotechnology and synthetic biology.
Background:
- Microbial chemical production has expanded beyond native capabilities.
- Biomass hydrolysates are increasingly used for fermenting natural products.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the evolution of metabolic engineering for producing non-natural chemicals.
- To highlight advances in synthetic biology for microbial cell factories.
- To outline novel computational tools and strategies for enhanced chemical synthesis.
Main Methods:
- Review of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology literature.
- Analysis of computational tools for pathway design and enzyme engineering.
- Discussion of strategies like directed evolution and orthogonal pathways.
Main Results:
- Synthetic biology accelerates the development of microbial cell factories.
- Novel computational tools aid in designing synthetic pathways and artificial enzymes.
- Metabolic engineering can re-wire host metabolism for increased product flux.
Conclusions:
- Microbial production of non-natural chemicals is rapidly advancing.
- Synthetic biology offers powerful tools for designing bespoke microbial chemical factories.
- Future opportunities include dynamic control and decoupled pathway strategies.
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