Engineering Corynebacterium glutamicum cell factory for producing biochemicals

As an essential industrial microorganism, Corynebacterium glutamicum has been employed in amino acids production with a long history. Recent progress in its metabolic engineering has accelerated the establishment and optimization of this species as cell factories, making it another unique chassis. In this comprehensive review, we first highlight the progress made in the metabolic engineering of C. glutamicum to broaden its substrate spectrum, including sugars in lignocellulosic hydrolysate, cheap glycerol, and one-carbon compounds. Furthermore, we discuss the development of C. glutamicum as cell factories to produce various amino acids, with a focus on bulk, branched-chain and aromatic amino acids, organic acids such as succinic acid, lactic acid, and shikimic acid, and terpenoids. Finally, potential challenges faced by engineering C. glutamicum cell factories when using non-model feedstocks for biochemical production are discussed, focusing on stress tolerance, non-model substrate utilization, and the design of multifunctional cell factories, along with envisioned directions for future research.