Search

Living systems contain a vast network of metabolic reactions, providing a wealth of enzymes and cells as potential biocatalysts for chemical processes. The properties of protein and cell biocatalysts-high selectivity, the ability to control reaction sequence and operation in environmentally benign conditions-offer approaches to produce molecules at high efficiency while lowering the cost and environmental impact of industrial chemistry. Furthermore, biocatalysis offers the opportunity to generate chemical structures and functions that may be inaccessible to chemical synthesis. Here we consider developments in enzymes, biosynthetic pathways and cellular engineering that enable their use in catalysis for new chemistry and beyond., (© 2024. Springer Nature Limited.)

Living organisms carry out a wide range of remarkable functions, including the synthesis of thousands of simple and complex chemical structures for cellular growth and maintenance. The manipulation of this reaction network has allowed for the genetic engineering of cells for targeted chemical synthesis, but it remains challenging to alter the program underlying their fundamental chemical behavior. By taking advantage of the unique ability of living systems to use evolution to find solutions to complex problems, we have achieved yields of up to ∼95% for three C 4 commodity chemicals, n -butanol, 1,3-butanediol, and 4-hydroxy-2-butanone. Genomic sequencing of the evolved strains identified pcnB and rpoBC as two gene loci that are able to alter carbon flow by remodeling the transcriptional landscape of the cell, highlighting the potential of synthetic pathways as a tool to identify metabolic control points., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)