Structural synthetic biotechnology: from molecular structure to predictable design for industrial strain development.
The future of industrial biotechnology requires efficient development of highly productive and robust strains of microorganisms. Present praxis of strain development cannot adequately fulfill this requirement, primarily owing to the inability to control reactions precisely at a molecular level, or to predict reliably the behavior of cells upon perturbation. Recent developments in two areas of biology are changing the situation rapidly: structural biology has revealed details about enzymes and associated bioreactions at an atomic level; and synthetic biology has provided tools to design and assemble precisely controllable modules for re-programming cellular metabolic circuitry. However, because of different emphases, to date, these two areas have developed separately. A linkage between them is desirable to harness their concerted potential. We therefore propose structural synthetic biotechnology as a new field in biotechnology, specifically for application to the development of industrial microbial strains.
Chen
Zhen
Z
Institute of Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering, Hamburg University of Technology, Denickestrasse 15, D-21073 Hamburg, Germany.
Wilmanns
Matthias
M
Zeng
An-Ping
AP
D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D007218:Industrial Microbiology; D015202:Protein Engineering; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry
D011506:Proteins; D012313:RNA