Microbial Production of Advanced Biofuels

Overview

Journal Nat Rev Microbiol

Specialties Infectious Diseases
Microbiology

Date 2021 Jun 26

PMID 34172951

Citations 56

Authors

Jay Keasling

Hector Garcia Martin

Taek Soon Lee

Aindrila Mukhopadhyay

Steven W Singer

Eric Sundstrom

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Concerns over climate change have necessitated a rethinking of our transportation infrastructure. One possible alternative to carbon-polluting fossil fuels is biofuels produced by engineered microorganisms that use a renewable carbon source. Two biofuels, ethanol and biodiesel, have made inroads in displacing petroleum-based fuels, but their uptake has been limited by the amounts that can be used in conventional engines and by their cost. Advanced biofuels that mimic petroleum-based fuels are not limited by the amounts that can be used in existing transportation infrastructure but have had limited uptake due to costs. In this Review, we discuss engineering metabolic pathways to produce advanced biofuels, challenges with substrate and product toxicity with regard to host microorganisms and methods to engineer tolerance, and the use of functional genomics and machine learning approaches to produce advanced biofuels and prospects for reducing their costs.

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