title: Combinatorial genetic perturbation to refine metabolic circuits for producing biofuels and biochemicals.
abstract: Recent advances in metabolic engineering have enabled microbial factories to compete with conventional processes for producing fuels and chemicals. Both rational and combinatorial approaches coupled with synthetic and systematic tools play central roles in metabolic engineering to create and improve a selected microbial phenotype. Compared to knowledge-based rational approaches, combinatorial approaches exploiting biological diversity and high-throughput screening have been demonstrated as more effective tools for improving various phenotypes of interest. In particular, identification of unprecedented targets to rewire metabolic circuits for maximizing yield and productivity of a target chemical has been made possible. This review highlights general principles and the features of the combinatorial approaches using various libraries to implement desired phenotypes for strain improvement. In addition, recent applications that harnessed the combinatorial approaches to produce biofuels and biochemicals will be discussed.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA; Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1206 West Gregory Dr., Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Hyo Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Timothy Lee
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Yong-Su
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Jin
mesh_terms: D056804:Biofuels; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005285:Fermentation; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D006801:Humans; D060847:Metabolic Engineering; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels
keywords: Biochemical; Biofuel; Combinatorial library; Inverse metabolic engineering; Metabolic circuit