Metabolic engineering of microorganisms for the production of structurally diverse esters.

MENENDEZ-BRAVO S, COMBA S, GRAMAJO H, ARABOLAZA A; MENENDEZ-BRAVO S, COMBA S, GRAMAJO H, ARABOLAZA A

APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2017 p. 3043 - 3053

0175-7598

Conventional petroleum-based chemical industry,although economically still thriving, is now facing greatsocio-political challenges due to the increasing concerns onclimate change and limited availability of fossil resources. Inthis context, microbial production of fuels and commodityoleochemicals from renewable biomass is being considereda promising sustainable alternative. The increasing understandingof cellular systems has enabled the redesign of microbialmetabolism for the production of compounds presentin many daily consumer products such as esters, waxes, fattyacids (FA) and fatty alcohols. Small aliphatic esters are importantflavour and fragrance elements while long-chain esters,composed of FA esterified to fatty alcohols, are widely used inlubricant formulas, paints, coatings and cosmetics. Here, wereview recent advances in the biosynthesis of these types ofmono alkyl esters in vivo. We focus on the critical ester bondformingenzymes and the latest metabolic engineering strategiesemployed for the biosynthesis of a wide range of productsranging from low-molecular-weight esters to waxycompounds.