Journal Article

Genetic engineering of non-native hosts for 1-butanol production and its challenges: a review

Huo, Yi-Xin, Wang, Ning, Ma, Xiaoyan, Nawab, Said

2020

Overview

Background Owing to the increase in energy consumption, fossil fuel resources are gradually depleting which has led to the growing environmental concerns; therefore, scientists are being urged to produce sustainable and ecofriendly fuels. Thus, there is a growing interest in the generation of biofuels from renewable energy resources using microbial fermentation. Main text Butanol is a promising biofuel that can substitute for gasoline; unfortunately, natural microorganisms pose challenges for the economical production of 1-butanol at an industrial scale. The availability of genetic and molecular tools to engineer existing native pathways or create synthetic pathways have made non-native hosts a good choice for the production of 1-butanol from renewable resources. Non-native hosts have several distinct advantages, including using of cost-efficient feedstock, solvent tolerant and reduction of contamination risk. Therefore, engineering non-native hosts to produce biofuels is a promising approach towards achieving sustainability. This paper reviews the currently employed strategies and synthetic biology approaches used to produce 1-butanol in non-native hosts over the past few years. In addition, current challenges faced in using non-native hosts and the possible solutions that can help improve 1-butanol production are also discussed. Conclusion Non-native organisms have the potential to realize commercial production of 1- butanol from renewable resources. Future research should focus on substrate utilization, cofactor imbalance, and promoter selection to boost 1-butanol production in non-native hosts. Moreover, the application of robust genetic engineering approaches is required for metabolic engineering of microorganisms to make them industrially feasible for 1-butanol production.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: 1-Butanol / 1-Butanol - metabolism / Applied Microbiology / Biodiesel fuels / Biofuel production / Biofuels / Biomass / Biomass energy / Biotechnology / Butanol / Carbon / Cellulase / Cellulose / Chemistry / Chemistry and Materials Science / Competition / Crude oil prices / E coli / Energy consumption / Energy resources / Energy sources / Engineers / Enzymology / Ethanol / Fermentation / Fossil fuels / Gasoline / Genetic Engineering / Genetic Engineering - methods / Genetic research / Genetically modified organisms / Glycerol / Metabolic engineering / Metabolism / Microbial Genetics and Genomics / Microbiology / Microorganisms / Non-native hosts / Raw materials / Renewable energy / Renewable resources / Researchers / Review / Substrates / Sustainability / Sustainable production / Sustainable yield / Synthesis gas / Synthetic pathways / Syrups & sweeteners