Novel Strategies and Platforms for Industrial Isoprenoid Engineering

Abstract

Metabolic engineering has emerged as an important tool for reconstructing heterologous isoprenoid metabolic pathways in microbial hosts. Here, we provide an overview of promising engineering strategies that have proven to be successful for the high-yield production of isoprenoids. Besides 'conventional' approaches, such as the 'push-pull' and protein engineering to optimize the isoprenoid flux and limited catalytic activity of enzymes, we review emerging strategies in the field, including compartmentalization between synthetic consortia members, novel bypass pathways for isoprenoid synthesis, cell-free systems, and improvement of the lipid content to overcome storage isoprenoid limitations. Pitfalls, along with lessons learned from the application of these strategies, will be addressed with the hope of guiding future efforts toward cost-effective and sustainable production of isoprenoids.

Keywords: bypass pathways; cell-free systems; isoprenoids; metabolic engineering; microbial consortia; protein engineering.