Recent advances in microbial production of phenolic compounds

Phenolic compounds (PCs) are a group of compounds with various applications in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Their supply by plant extraction and chemical synthesis is often limited by low yield and high cost. Microbial production represents as a promising alternative for efficient and sustainable production of PCs. In this review, we summarize recent advances in this field, which include enzyme mining and engineering to construct artificial pathways, balance of enzyme expression to improve pathway efficiency, coculture engineering to alleviate metabolic burden and side-reactions, and the use of genetic circuits for dynamic regulation and high throughput screening. Finally, current challenges and future perspectives for efficient production of PCs are also discussed. (C) 2020 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This review discusses the significance of phenolic compounds in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries, as well as the potential of microbial production for improving efficiency and sustainability. The paper summarizes recent technological advancements and methods in this field, and discusses current challenges and future prospects.