title: Metabolic engineering of microorganisms for the production of higher alcohols.
abstract: Due to the increasing concerns about limited fossil resources and environmental problems, there has been much interest in developing biofuels from renewable biomass. Ethanol is currently used as a major biofuel, as it can be easily produced by existing fermentation technology, but it is not the best biofuel due to its low energy density, high vapor pressure, hygroscopy, and incompatibility with current infrastructure. Higher alcohols, including 1-propanol, 1-butanol, isobutanol, 2-methyl-1-butanol, and 3-methyl-1-butanol, which possess fuel properties more similar to those of petroleum-based fuel, have attracted particular interest as alternatives to ethanol. Since microorganisms isolated from nature do not allow production of these alcohols at high enough efficiencies, metabolic engineering has been employed to enhance their production. Here, we review recent advances in metabolic engineering of microorganisms for the production of higher alcohols.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 Plus Program), Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory, BioProcess Engineering Research Center, Center for Systems and Synthetic Biotechnology, Institute for the BioCentury, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yong Jun
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 Plus Program), Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory, BioProcess Engineering Research Center, Center for Systems and Synthetic Biotechnology, Institute for the BioCentury, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Joungmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 Plus Program), Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory, BioProcess Engineering Research Center, Center for Systems and Synthetic Biotechnology, Institute for the BioCentury, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yu-Sin
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 Plus Program), Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory, BioProcess Engineering Research Center, Center for Systems and Synthetic Biotechnology, Institute for the BioCentury, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea leesy@kaist.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Sang Yup
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D020001:1-Butanol / Q000378:metabolism; D000438:Alcohols / Q000378:metabolism*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D056804:Biofuels / Q000382:microbiology*; D001709:Biotechnology; D000440:Butanols / Q000378:metabolism; D005285:Fermentation; D007218:Industrial Microbiology; D060847:Metabolic Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D000439:Pentanols / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000438:Alcohols; D056804:Biofuels; D000440:Butanols; D000439:Pentanols; C040507:isobutyl alcohol; C032765:tert-amyl alcohol; D020001:1-Butanol; C029683:isopentyl alcohol