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Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Characterization of Membrane Transporters by Heterologous Expression in E. coli and Production of Membrane Vesicles
Published on: December 31, 2019
Transporter engineering in microbial cell factories
Yajie Cheng1, Xiuchao Xie1, Liang Guo2
1Qinba State Key Laboratory of Biological Resources and Ecological Environment (Incubation), Shaanxi Province Key Laboratory of Bio-resources, Qinba Mountain Area Collaborative Innovation Center of Bioresources Comprehensive Development, School of Biological Science and Engineering, Shaanxi University of Technology, Hanzhong 723000, China.
Abstract:
Microbial cell factories are central platforms for sustainable industrial biomanufacturing, yet inefficient transmembrane transport continues to hinder their large-scale industrial translation. Transporter engineering has progressed from trial-and-error overexpression to mechanism-guided rational design, offering effective routes to relieve transport-related metabolic constraints. This review summarizes key advances in substrate uptake, product efflux, stress tolerance, and subcellular compartmentalized transport, analyzes evolutionary trade-offs and practical engineering bottlenecks of transporters, and reviews applications of omics, high-throughput screening, and AI. It aims to deliver a systematic overview of the field and support the further development of transporter engineering for robust industrial microbial cell factories that enable efficient and stable production of high-value chemicals in next-generation green and sustainable biological manufacturing systems.
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