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Metabolic engineering of strains: from industrial-scale to lab-scale chemical production

  • Metabolic Engineering and Synthetic Biology
  • Published:
Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Abstract

A plethora of successful metabolic engineering case studies have been published over the past several decades. Here, we highlight a collection of microbially produced chemicals using a historical framework, starting with titers ranging from industrial scale (more than 50 g/L), to medium-scale (5–50 g/L), and lab-scale (0–5 g/L). Although engineered Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae emerge as prominent hosts in the literature as a result of well-developed genetic engineering tools, several novel native-producing strains are gaining attention. This review catalogs the current progress of metabolic engineering towards production of compounds such as acids, alcohols, amino acids, natural organic compounds, and others.

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Acknowledgments

Dr. Jie Sun is supported by DARPA living foundries. This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program Award, DARPA Living Foundries Program, and the Welch Foundation under Grant F-1753. We acknowledge Dr. Nathan Crook for helpful suggestions during manuscript preparation.

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  1. McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 200 E Dean Keeton St. Stop C0400, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Jie Sun & Hal S. Alper

  2. Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, 2500 Speedway Avenue, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Hal S. Alper

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  1. Jie Sun
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Correspondence to Hal S. Alper.

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Special Issue: Metabolic Engineering.

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Sun, J., Alper, H.S. Metabolic engineering of strains: from industrial-scale to lab-scale chemical production. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 42, 423–436 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-014-1539-8

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