title: Synthetic biology for microbial production of lipid-based biofuels.
abstract: The risks of maintaining current CO2 emission trends have led to interest in producing biofuels using engineered microbes. Microbial biofuels reduce emissions because CO2 produced by fuel combustion is offset by CO2 captured by growing biomass, which is later used as feedstock for biofuel fermentation. Hydrocarbons found in petroleum fuels share striking similarity with biological lipids. Here we review synthetic metabolic pathways based on fatty acid and isoprenoid metabolism to produce alkanes and other molecules suitable as biofuels. We further discuss engineering strategies to optimize engineered biosynthetic routes, as well as the potential of synthetic biology for sustainable manufacturing.
authors.affiliation: Joint BioEnergy Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Emeryville, CA 94608, United States.
authors.forename: Leo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: d'Espaux
authors.affiliation: Joint BioEnergy Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Emeryville, CA 94608, United States.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mendez-Perez
authors.affiliation: Joint BioEnergy Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Emeryville, CA 94608, United States; Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94270, United States.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Joint BioEnergy Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Emeryville, CA 94608, United States; Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94270, United States; QB3 Institute, Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94270, United States; QB3 Institute, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94270, United States. Electronic address: jdkeasling@lbl.gov.
authors.forename: Jay D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Keasling
mesh_terms: D000473:Alkanes / Q000378:metabolism; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D056804:Biofuels / Q000032:analysis / Q000382:microbiology*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D005658:Fungi / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D007218:Industrial Microbiology / Q000379:methods*; D060847:Metabolic Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D058615:Synthetic Biology / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000473:Alkanes; D056804:Biofuels; D005227:Fatty Acids; D002245:Carbon Dioxide