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Metabolic engineers endeavor to create a bio-based manufacturing industry using microbes to produce fuels, chemicals, and medicines. Plant natural products (PNPs) are historically challenging to produce and are ubiquitous in medicines, flavors, and fragrances. Engineering PNP pathways into new hosts requires finding or modifying a suitable host to accommodate the pathway, planning and implementing a biosynthetic route to the compound, and discovering or engineering enzymes for missing steps. In this review, we describe recent developments in metabolic engineering at the level of host, pathway, and enzyme, and discuss how the field is approaching ever more complex biosynthetic opportunities. Engineering microbial cell factories for the production of useful plant natural products (PNPs) is a resource-conserving and environmentally-friendly synthesis route. Here, the authors review recent developments that enable engineering of hosts, pathways, and enzymes to make PNPs and PNP derivatives.

Summary The last few years have witnessed an unprecedented increase in the number of novel bacterial species that hold potential to be used for metabolic engineering. Historically, however, only a handful of bacteria have attained the acceptance and widespread use that are needed to fulfil the needs of industrial bioproduction – and only for the synthesis of very few, structurally simple compounds. One of the reasons for this unfortunate circumstance has been the dearth of tools for targeted genome engineering of bacterial chassis, and, nowadays, synthetic biology is significantly helping to bridge such knowledge gap. Against this background, in this review, we discuss the state of the art in the rational design and construction of robust bacterial chassis for metabolic engineering, presenting key examples of bacterial species that have secured a place in industrial bioproduction. The emergence of novel bacterial chassis is also considered at the light of the unique properties of their physiology and metabolism, and the practical applications in which they are expected to outperform other microbial platforms. Emerging opportunities, essential strategies to enable successful development of industrial phenotypes, and major challenges in the field of bacterial chassis development are also discussed, outlining the solutions that contemporary synthetic biology‐guided metabolic engineering offers to tackle these issues. The field of engineering bacterial chassis for bioproduction is experiencing an unprecedented attention due to the adoption of alternative bacterial hosts that can perform under a wide variety of industrially‐relevant conditions.

Synthetic biology will transform how we grow food, what we eat, and where we source materials and medicines. Here I have selected six products that are now on the market, highlighting the underlying technologies and projecting forward to the future that can be expected over the next ten years.

The oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica is quickly emerging as the most popular non-conventional (i.e., non-model organism) yeast in the bioproduction field. With a high propensity for flux through tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates and biological precursors such as acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA, this host is especially well suited to meet our industrial chemical production needs. Recent progress in synthetic biology tool development has greatly enhanced our ability to rewire this organism, with advances in genetic component design, CRISPR technologies, and modular cloning strategies. In this review we investigate recent developments in metabolic engineering and describe how the new tools being developed help to realize the full industrial potential of this host. Finally, we conclude with our vision of the developments that will be necessary to enhance future engineering efforts. Y. lipolytica is an oleaginous yeast with demonstrated industrial potential that has been recently explored for its potential to produce a variety of non-native metabolites. Metabolic engineering and synthetic biology enables the industrialization of this host. Synthetic biology has accelerated the development of new Y. lipolytica strains. Improvements in tools including CRISPR/Cas9 will be necessary to amplify progress in strain engineering. New models for Y. lipolytica will guide rational metabolic engineering efforts and expedite industrialization of bioproducts.

The oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica has become a recognized system for expression/secretion of heterologous proteins. This non-conventional yeast is currently being developed as a workhorse for biotechnology by several research groups throughout the world, especially for single-cell oil production, whole cell bioconversion and upgrading of industrial wastes. This mini-review presents established tools for protein expression in Y. lipolytica and highlights novel developments in the areas of promoter design, surface display, and host strain or metabolic pathway engineering. An overview of the industrial and commercial biotechnological applications of Y. lipolytica is also presented.

The consistent increase in the global population, estimated to reach 9 billion people by 2050, poses a serious challenge for the achievement of global food security. Therefore, the need to feed an increasing world population and to respond adequately to the effects of climate change must be urgently considered. Progress may be achieved by applying knowledge of molecular and genetic mechanisms to create and/or improve agricultural and industrial processes. We highlight the importance of crops (wheat, maize, rice, rapeseed, and soybean) to the development of sustainable agriculture and agrobiotechnology in the EU and discuss possible solutions for ensuring food security, while also considering their social acceptance. Fast human population growth and less-than-required increases in crop production in recent years obligate coordinated efforts from scientists, farmers, producers and consumers to ensure food security. Recent progress in molecular biology and biotechnology creates hope for the future. With the help of genetic engineering techniques, scientists continue to improve crops in an effort to diminish losses caused by biotic and abiotic stresses and increase yield. Crosstalk between scientists and society based on reliable scientific knowledge is urgently needed, as is appropriate legislation.

An overview of common challenges and strategies underlying efforts to reconstruct plant isoprenoid, alkaloid, phenylpropanoid, and polyketide biosynthetic pathways in microbial systems.

More than 70 years ago, the filamentous ascomycete Trichoderma reesei was isolated on the Solomon Islands due to its ability to degrade and thrive on cellulose containing fabrics. This trait that relies on its secreted cellulases is nowadays exploited by several industries. Most prominently in biorefineries which use T. reesei enzymes to saccharify lignocellulose from renewable plant biomass in order to produce biobased fuels and chemicals. In this review we summarize important milestones of the development of T. reesei as the leading production host for biorefinery enzymes, and discuss emerging trends in strain engineering. Trichoderma reesei has very recently also been proposed as a consolidated bioprocessing organism capable of direct conversion of biopolymeric substrates to desired products. We therefore cover this topic by reviewing novel approaches in metabolic engineering of T. reesei .

l-Valine is one of the three branched-chain amino acids (valine, leucine, and isoleucine) essential for animal health and important in metabolism; therefore, it is widely added in the products of food, medicine, and feed. l-Valine is predominantly produced through microbial fermentation, and the production efficiency largely depends on the quality of microorganisms. In recent years, continuing efforts have been made in revealing the mechanisms and regulation of l-valine biosynthesis in Corynebacterium glutamicum, the most utilitarian bacterium for amino acid production. Metabolic engineering based on the metabolic biosynthesis and regulation of l-valine provides an effective alternative to the traditional breeding for strain development. Industrially competitive l-valine-producing C. glutamicum strains have been constructed by genetically defined metabolic engineering. This article reviews the global metabolic and regulatory networks responsible for l-valine biosynthesis, the molecular mechanisms of regulation, and the strategies employed in C. glutamicum strain engineering.

Artificial electron donors and acceptors expand researchers’ metabolic engineering options — if only cells would cooperate. Artificial electron donors and acceptors expand researchers’ metabolic engineering options — if only cells would cooperate.