4.7 Review

Microbial production of propanol

Journal

BIOTECHNOLOGY ADVANCES
Volume 34, Issue 5, Pages 984-996

Publisher

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2016.05.011

Keywords

n-propanol; Isopropanol; Metabolic engineering; Synthetic biology; Biofuel

Funding

  1. Agence Nationale de la Recherche (Investissements d'Avenir program) [ANR 10-BTBR-05 -01]

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Both, n-propanol and isopropanol are industrially attractive value-added molecules that can be produced by microbes from renewable resources. The development of cost-effective fermentation processes may allow using these alcohols as a biofuel component, or as a precursor for the chemical synthesis of propylene. This review reports and discusses the recent progress which has been made in the biochemical production of propanol. Several synthetic propanol-producing pathways were developed that vary with respect to stoichiometry and metabolic entry point. These pathways were expressed in different host organisms and enabled propanol production from various renewable feedstocks. Furthermore, it was shown that the optimization of fermentation conditions greatly improved process performance, in particular, when continuous product removal prevented accumulation of toxic propanol levels. Although these advanced metabolic engineering and fermentation strategies have facilitated significant progress in the biochemical production of propanol, the currently achieved propanol yields and productivities appear to be insufficient to compete with chemical propanol synthesis. The development of biosynthetic pathways with improved propanol yields, the breeding or identification of microorganisms with higher propanol tolerance, and the engineering of propanol producer strains that efficiently utilize low-cost feedstocks are the major challenges on the way to industrially relevant microbial propanol production processes. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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