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Article
Metabolic Engineering for Production of Biorenewable Fuels and Chemicals: Contributions of Synthetic Biology
Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology
  • Laura R. Jarboe, Iowa State University
  • Xueli Zhang, University of Florida
  • Xuan Wang, University of Florida
  • Jonathan C. Moore, University of Florida
  • K. T. Shanmugam, University of Florida
  • Lonnie O. Ingram, University of Florida
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2010
DOI
10.1155/2010/761042
Abstract

Production of fuels and chemicals through microbial fermentation of plant material is a desirable alternative to petrochemicalbased production. Fermentative production of biorenewable fuels and chemicals requires the engineering of biocatalysts that can quickly and efficiently convert sugars to target products at a cost that is competitive with existing petrochemical-based processes. It is also important that biocatalysts be robust to extreme fermentation conditions, biomass-derived inhibitors, and their target products. Traditional metabolic engineering has made great advances in this area, but synthetic biology has contributed and will continue to contribute to this field, particularly with next-generation biofuels. This work reviews the use of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology in biocatalyst engineering for biorenewable fuels and chemicals production, such as ethanol, butanol, acetate, lactate, succinate, alanine, and xylitol. We also examine the existing challenges in this area and discuss strategies for improving biocatalyst tolerance to chemical inhibitors.

Comments

This article is from Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology 2010 (2010): 761042, doi:10.1155/2010/761042.

Rights
Copyright © 2010 Laura R. Jarboe et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright Owner
Laura R. Jarboe et al.
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Laura R. Jarboe, Xueli Zhang, Xuan Wang, Jonathan C. Moore, et al.. "Metabolic Engineering for Production of Biorenewable Fuels and Chemicals: Contributions of Synthetic Biology" Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology Vol. 2010 (2010) p. 761042
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/laura_jarboe/21/