Novel pathways and products from 2-keto acids

Pooja Jambunathan; Kechun Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2014.01.008

Novel pathways and products from 2-keto acids

Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2014 Oct:29:1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2014.01.008. Epub 2014 Feb 1.

Authors

Pooja Jambunathan¹, Kechun Zhang²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, MN 55455, USA.
² Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, MN 55455, USA. Electronic address: kzhang@umn.edu.

PMID: 24492019
DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2014.01.008

Abstract

Since traditional chemical processes are non-renewable and environmentally unfriendly, biosynthesis is emerging as an attractive alternative for the production of advanced biofuels, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and polymers. Cost-competitive biomanufacturing requires the design of metabolic pathways that can achieve high production yields and rates. Recent advances in natural amino acid production have motivated the use of 2-ketoacid intermediates for the production of important chemicals. These 2-ketoacids undergo a wide range of efficient biochemical reactions leading to an array of industrially useful products. In this review, recently developed novel pathways based on 2-ketoacids will be described along with representative examples.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Biochemical Phenomena
Biofuels
Keto Acids / metabolism*
Metabolic Networks and Pathways

Substances

Biofuels
Keto Acids