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Weiland F, Kohlstedt M, Wittmann C. Biobased de novo synthesis, upcycling, and recycling - the heartbeat toward a green and sustainable polyethylene terephthalate industry. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2024; 86:103079. [PMID: 38422776 DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2023] [Revised: 01/19/2024] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) has revolutionized the industrial sector because of its versatility, with its predominant uses in the textiles and packaging materials industries. Despite the various advantages of this polymer, its synthesis is, unfavorably, tightly intertwined with nonrenewable fossil resources. Additionally, given its widespread use, accumulating PET waste poses a significant environmental challenge. As a result, current research in the areas of biological recycling, upcycling, and de novo synthesis is intensifying. Biological recycling involves the use of micro-organisms or enzymes to breakdown PET into monomers, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional recycling. Upcycling transforms PET waste into value-added products, expanding its potential application range and promoting a circular economy. Moreover, studies of cascading biological and chemical processes driven by microbial cell factories have explored generating PET using renewable, biobased feedstocks such as lignin. These avenues of research promise to mitigate the environmental footprint of PET, underlining the importance of sustainable innovations in the industry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabia Weiland
- Institute of Systems Biotechnology, Saarland University, Germany
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Nie M, Wang J, Zhang K. Engineering a Novel Acetyl-CoA Pathway for Efficient Biosynthesis of Acetyl-CoA-Derived Compounds. ACS Synth Biol 2024; 13:358-369. [PMID: 38151239 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.3c00613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2023]
Abstract
Acetyl-CoA is an essential central metabolite in living organisms and a key precursor for various value-added products as well. However, the intracellular availability of acetyl-CoA limits the efficient production of these target products due to complex and strict regulation. Here, we proposed a new acetyl-CoA pathway, relying on two enzymes, threonine aldolase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (acetylating), which can convert one l-threonine into one acetyl-CoA, one glycine, and generate one NADH, without carbon loss. Introducing the acetyl-CoA pathway could increase the intracellular concentration of acetyl-CoA by 8.6-fold compared with the wild-type strain. To develop a cost-competitive and genetically stable acetyl-CoA platform strain, the new acetyl-CoA pathway, driven by the constitutive strong promoter, was integrated into the chromosome of Escherichia coli. We demonstrated the practical application of this new acetyl-CoA pathway by high titer production of β-alanine, mevalonate, and N-acetylglucosamine. At the same time, this pathway achieved a high-yield production of glycine, a value-added commodity chemical for the synthesis of glyphosate and thiamphenicol. This work shows the potential of this new acetyl-CoA pathway for the industrial production of acetyl-CoA-derived compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengzhen Nie
- Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China
- Center of Synthetic Biology and Integrated Bioengineering, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310030, China
| | - Jingyu Wang
- Center of Synthetic Biology and Integrated Bioengineering, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310030, China
| | - Kechun Zhang
- Center of Synthetic Biology and Integrated Bioengineering, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310030, China
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Cha HG, Kim HT, Park SH, Kong Y, Yi B, Wang J, Song E, Joo JC, Yang YH, Ahn JO, Park K. Enhanced production of glutaric acid by biocatalyst-recycled bioconversion process integrated with in situ product recovery by adsorption. Enzyme Microb Technol 2023; 171:110307. [PMID: 37659171 DOI: 10.1016/j.enzmictec.2023.110307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2023] [Revised: 08/15/2023] [Accepted: 08/19/2023] [Indexed: 09/04/2023]
Abstract
Product inhibition caused by organic acids is a serious issue in establishing economical biochemical production systems. Herein, for enhanced production of glutaric acid by overcoming product inhibition triggered by glutaric acid, a whole-cell bioconversion system equipped with biocatalyst recycling process and in situ product recovery by adsorption was developed successfully. From the whole-cell bioconversion reaction, we found that both dissociated and undissociated forms of glutaric acid acted as an inhibitor in the whole-cell bioconversion reaction, wherein bioconversion was hindered beyond 200 mM glutaric acid regardless of reaction pH. Therefore, as the promising solution for the inhibition issue by glutaric acid, the biocatalyst-recycled bioconversion process integrated with in situ product recovery by adsorption was introduced in the whole-cell bioconversion. As a result, 592 mM glutaric acid was produced from 1000 mM 5-aminovaleric acid with 59.2% conversion. We believe that our system will be a promising candidate for economically producing organic acids with high titer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haeng-Geun Cha
- Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Hongik University, Sejong 30016, Republic of Korea
| | - Hee Taek Kim
- Department of Food Science and Technology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Republic of Korea
| | - See-Hyoung Park
- Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Hongik University, Sejong 30016, Republic of Korea
| | - Youjung Kong
- Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Hongik University, Sejong 30016, Republic of Korea
| | - Byongson Yi
- Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Hongik University, Sejong 30016, Republic of Korea
| | - Jimin Wang
- Department of Food Science and Technology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Republic of Korea
| | - Eunchae Song
- Department of Food Science and Technology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Republic of Korea
| | - Jeong Chan Joo
- Department of Biotechnology, The Catholic University of Korea, Bucheon 14662, Republic of Korea
| | - Yung-Hun Yang
- Department of Biological Engineering, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea
| | - Jung-Oh Ahn
- Biotechnology Process Engineering Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Cheongju 28116, Republic of Korea
| | - Kyungmoon Park
- Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Hongik University, Sejong 30016, Republic of Korea.
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Choi SY, Lee Y, Yu HE, Cho IJ, Kang M, Lee SY. Sustainable production and degradation of plastics using microbes. Nat Microbiol 2023; 8:2253-2276. [PMID: 38030909 DOI: 10.1038/s41564-023-01529-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023]
Abstract
Plastics are indispensable in everyday life and industry, but the environmental impact of plastic waste on ecosystems and human health is a huge concern. Microbial biotechnology offers sustainable routes to plastic production and waste management. Bacteria and fungi can produce plastics, as well as their constituent monomers, from renewable biomass, such as crops, agricultural residues, wood and organic waste. Bacteria and fungi can also degrade plastics. We review state-of-the-art microbial technologies for sustainable production and degradation of bio-based plastics and highlight the potential contributions of microorganisms to a circular economy for plastics.
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Affiliation(s)
- So Young Choi
- Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory, Systems Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 Four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- KAIST Institute for BioCentury, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- BioProcess Engineering Research Center, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Youngjoon Lee
- Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory, Systems Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 Four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- KAIST Institute for BioCentury, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- BioProcess Engineering Research Center, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Hye Eun Yu
- Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory, Systems Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 Four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- KAIST Institute for BioCentury, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - In Jin Cho
- Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory, Systems Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 Four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- KAIST Institute for BioCentury, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- BioProcess Engineering Research Center, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Minju Kang
- Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory, Systems Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 Four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- KAIST Institute for BioCentury, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Sang Yup Lee
- Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory, Systems Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 Four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
- KAIST Institute for BioCentury, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
- BioProcess Engineering Research Center, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
- BioInformatics Research Center, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
- Graduate School of Engineering Biology, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
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Lee GH, Kim DW, Jin YH, Kim SM, Lim ES, Cha MJ, Ko JK, Gong G, Lee SM, Um Y, Han SO, Ahn JH. Biotechnological Plastic Degradation and Valorization Using Systems Metabolic Engineering. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:15181. [PMID: 37894861 PMCID: PMC10607142 DOI: 10.3390/ijms242015181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2023] [Revised: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 10/13/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Various kinds of plastics have been developed over the past century, vastly improving the quality of life. However, the indiscriminate production and irresponsible management of plastics have led to the accumulation of plastic waste, emerging as a pressing environmental concern. To establish a clean and sustainable plastic economy, plastic recycling becomes imperative to mitigate resource depletion and replace non-eco-friendly processes, such as incineration. Although chemical and mechanical recycling technologies exist, the prevalence of composite plastics in product manufacturing complicates recycling efforts. In recent years, the biodegradation of plastics using enzymes and microorganisms has been reported, opening a new possibility for biotechnological plastic degradation and bio-upcycling. This review provides an overview of microbial strains capable of degrading various plastics, highlighting key enzymes and their role. In addition, recent advances in plastic waste valorization technology based on systems metabolic engineering are explored in detail. Finally, future perspectives on systems metabolic engineering strategies to develop a circular plastic bioeconomy are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ga Hyun Lee
- Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea
- Department of Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea
| | - Do-Wook Kim
- Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea
| | - Yun Hui Jin
- Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea
- Department of Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea
| | - Sang Min Kim
- Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea
- Department of Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea
| | - Eui Seok Lim
- Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea
- Department of Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea
| | - Min Ji Cha
- Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea
- Department of Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea
| | - Ja Kyong Ko
- Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea
- Division of Energy and Environment Technology, KIST School, University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea
| | - Gyeongtaek Gong
- Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea
- Division of Energy and Environment Technology, KIST School, University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea
| | - Sun-Mi Lee
- Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea
- Division of Energy and Environment Technology, KIST School, University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea
| | - Youngsoon Um
- Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea
- Division of Energy and Environment Technology, KIST School, University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea
| | - Sung Ok Han
- Department of Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea
| | - Jung Ho Ahn
- Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea
- Division of Energy and Environment Technology, KIST School, University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea
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