蓝细菌细胞工厂合成聚合物单体的研究进展

Advances of polymer-monomer production by cyanobacterial cell factory

摘要:

蓝细菌是当前合成生物学研究的热门底盘生物之一，是光合自养底盘微生物的典型代表。随着化石资源的逐渐枯竭和碳排放所导致的全球变暖问题的加剧，以CO2为碳源的蓝细菌细胞工厂的研究又迎来了一次新的浪潮。长期以来，人们对于蓝细菌细胞工厂的关注点主要是在生物能源的生产，比如液体燃料及氢气等。蓝细菌细胞工厂研究的主要瓶颈之一是其低效率导致的经济性问题。这一问题对于成本异常敏感的能源产品而言尤其突出。聚合物作为人类生产生活的重要基础，属于附加值较大的大宗化学品，对克服蓝细菌细胞工厂商业化所面临的经济性问题具有优势，近来得到了越来越多的关注。本文对蓝细菌的聚合物单体生产的相关研究进行了系统综述，阐述了各类单体的增产策略，并回顾了蓝细菌细胞工厂应用的相关技术，提出了蓝细菌合成生物学的应用领域所存在的问题并对未来的研究进行了展望。

Abstract:

Cyanobacteria is one of the promising microbial chassis in synthetic biology, which serves as a typical host for light-driven production. With the gradual depletion of fossil resources and intensification of global warming, the research on cyanobacterial cell factory using CO2 as carbon resource is ushering in a new wave. For a long time, research focus on cyanobacterial cell factory has mainly been the production of energy products, such as liquid fuels and hydrogen. One of the critical bottlenecks occurring in cyanobacterial cell factory is the poor economic performance, which is mainly caused by the inherent inefficiency of cyanobacteria. The problem is particularly prominent for these extremely cost-sensitive energy products. As an indispensable basis for modern industry, polymer monomers belong to the bulk chemicals with high added value. Therefore, increasing attention has been focused on polymer monomers which are superior in overcoming the economic barrier in commercialization of cyanobacterial cell factories. Here, we systematically review the progress on the production of polymer monomers using cyanobacteria, including the strategies for improving production, and the related technologies for the application of this important microbial cell factory. Finally, we summarize several issues in cyanobacterial synthetic biology and proposed future developing trends in this field.