Engineering microbial chemical factories to produce renewable “biomonomers”
Open Access
- 1 January 2012
- journal article
- Published by Frontiers Media SA in Frontiers in Microbiology
- Vol. 3, 313
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2012.00313
Abstract
By applying metabolic engineering tools and strategies to engineer synthetic enzyme pathways, the number and diversity of commodity and specialty chemicals that can be derived directly from renewable feedstocks is rapidly and continually expanding. This of course includes a number of monomer building-block chemicals that can be used to produce replacements to many conventional plastic materials. This review aims to highlight numerous recent and important advancements in the microbial production of these so-called ‘biomonomers’. Relative to naturally-occurring renewable bioplastics, biomonomers offer several important advantages, including improved control over the final polymer structure and purity, the ability to synthesize non-natural copolymers, and allowing products to be excreted from cells which ultimately streamlines downstream recovery and purification. To highlight these features, a handful of biomonomers have been selected as illustrative examples of recent works, including polyamide monomers, styrenic vinyls, hydroxyacids, and diols. Where appropriate, examples of their industrial penetration to date and end-product uses are also highlighted. Novel biomonomers such as these are ultimately paving the way towards new classes of renewable bioplastics that possess a broader diversity of properties than ever before possible.Keywords
This publication has 76 references indexed in Scilit:
- Perspective on opportunities in industrial biotechnology in renewable chemicalsBiotechnology Journal, 2011
- Succinate production in Escherichia coliBiotechnology Journal, 2011
- Modular Synthase-Encoding Gene Involved in α-Olefin Biosynthesis in Synechococcus sp. Strain PCC 7002Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2011
- Identification and Elimination of the Competing N -Acetyldiaminopentane Pathway for Improved Production of Diaminopentane by Corynebacterium glutamicumApplied and Environmental Microbiology, 2010
- Putrescine production by engineered Corynebacterium glutamicumApplied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2010
- Escherichia coli Strains Engineered for Homofermentative Production of d -Lactic Acid from GlycerolApplied and Environmental Microbiology, 2010
- Polyhydroxyalkanoates: bioplastics with a green agendaCurrent Opinion in Microbiology, 2010
- Our plastic agePhilosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 2009
- Production of the antimalarial drug precursor artemisinic acid in engineered yeastNature, 2006
- Microbial production of vitamin B 12Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2002