Synthetic biology of extremophiles: a new wave of biomanufacturing

Jian-Wen Ye; Yi-Na Lin; Xue-Qing Yi; Zhuo-Xuan Yu; Xu Liu; Guo-Qiang Chen

doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2022.11.010

Synthetic biology of extremophiles: a new wave of biomanufacturing

Trends Biotechnol. 2023 Mar;41(3):342-357. doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2022.11.010. Epub 2022 Dec 17.

Authors

Jian-Wen Ye¹, Yi-Na Lin¹, Xue-Qing Yi², Zhuo-Xuan Yu³, Xu Liu⁴, Guo-Qiang Chen⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Biology and Biological Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Fermentation and Enzyme Engineering, School of Biology and Biological Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China; Guangdong Research Center of Industrial Enzyme and Green Manufacturing Technology, School of Biology and Biological Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
² School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
³ School of Biology and Biological Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
⁴ PhaBuilder Biotech Company, Shunyi District, Zhaoquan Ying, Beijing 101309, China.
⁵ School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Ministry of Education (MOE) Laboratory of Industrial Biocatalysis, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: chengq@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn.

PMID: 36535816
DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2022.11.010

Abstract

Microbial biomanufacturing, powered by the advances of synthetic biology, has attracted growing interest for the production of diverse products. In contrast to conventional microbes, extremophiles have shown better performance for low-cost production owing to their outstanding growth and synthesis capacity under stress conditions, allowing unsterilized fermentation processes. We review increasing numbers of products already manufactured utilizing extremophiles in recent years. In addition, genetic parts, molecular tools, and manipulation approaches for extremophile engineering are also summarized, and challenges and opportunities are predicted for non-conventional chassis. Next-generation industrial biotechnology (NGIB) based on engineered extremophiles promises to simplify biomanufacturing processes and achieve open and continuous fermentation, without sterilization, and utilizing low-cost substrates, making NGIB an attractive green process for sustainable manufacturing.

Keywords: Halomonas; PHB; extremophiles; metabolic engineering; morphology engineering; next-generation industrial biotechnology; synthetic biology.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Biotechnology
Extremophiles*
Fermentation
Industry
Metabolic Engineering
Synthetic Biology