Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for biofuel production

Abstract

Global energy demand and environmental concerns have stimulated increased efforts to develop more sustainable and cost-effective fuels with economical production processes that would make it feasible to replace petroleum-based fuels. The biological synthesis of such fuels relies on the exploitation of the diverse metabolic pathways leading to fuel-like biomolecules and has further opened up the possibility of synthesizing biofuels other than those naturally produced through fermentative pathways. This is because, as a framework, metabolic engineering has made it possible to reconstruct and assemble biosynthetic pathways in user-friendly microorganisms for de novo synthesis of fuel molecules. To highlight the advancements and the tremendous potential that exists, we review the recent progress in engineering of Escherichia coli for biofuel production.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.