Microbial production of fatty acid-derived fuels and chemicals

Rebecca Lennen, Brian F. Pfleger

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

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Abstract

Fatty acid metabolism is an attractive route to produce liquid transportation fuels and commodity oleochemicals from renewable feedstocks. Recently, genes and enzymes, which comprise metabolic pathways for producing fatty acid-derived compounds (e.g. esters, alkanes, olefins, ketones, alcohols, polyesters) have been elucidated and used in engineered microbial hosts. The resulting strains often generate products at low percentages of maximum theoretical yields, leaving significant room for metabolic engineering. Economically viable processes will require strains to approach theoretical yields,
particularly for replacement of petroleum-derived fuels. This review will describe recent progress toward this goal, highlighting the scientific discoveries of each pathway, ongoing biochemical studies to understand each enzyme, and metabolic engineering strategies that are being used to improve strain performance.
Original languageEnglish
JournalCurrent Opinion in Biotechnology
Volume21
Number of pages10
ISSN0958-1669
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013
Externally publishedYes

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