Breaking the photosynthetic monopoly on carbohydrate production through artificial synthesis

Photosynthesis has maintained an evolutionary monopoly on biological carbohydrate production for over 3.5 billion years, yet its fundamental limitations, including poor solar conversion efficiency, spatial constraints, and temporal variability, increasingly conflict with human demands for sustainable carbon fixation. This review critically examines emerging strategies to engineer artificial carbohydrate synthesis pathways that transcend photosynthetic constraints. We analyze three primary approaches: direct electrochemical CO₂ reduction, synthetic enzymatic cascades, and hybrid bio-artificial systems, while identifying critical integration challenges that limit current implementations. Our analysis reveals that cofactor regeneration inefficiencies, catalyst selectivity trade-offs, and economic competitiveness represent the most significant barriers to practical deployment. We propose that the convergence of AI-driven catalyst design, modular synthetic biology platforms, and renewable energy integration offers transformative opportunities for establishing economically viable artificial carbohydrate production. The implications extend beyond traditional agriculture to enable distributed manufacturing paradigms, designer carbohydrates with enhanced functionality, and circular carbon economies that convert waste CO₂ into valuable products.