Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA.
Trends Microbiol. 2011 Oct;19(10):516-24. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2011.07.005. Epub 2011 Aug 24.
Harnessing the immense natural diversity of biological functions for economical production of fuel has enormous potential benefits. Inevitably, however, the native capabilities for any given organism must be modified to increase the productivity or efficiency of a biofuel bioprocess. From a broad perspective, the challenge is to sufficiently understand the details of cellular functionality to be able to prospectively predict and modify the cellular function of a microorganism. Recent advances in experimental and computational systems biology approaches can be used to better understand cellular level function and guide future experiments. With pressure to quickly develop viable, renewable biofuel processes a balance must be maintained between obtaining depth of biological knowledge and applying that knowledge.
利用生物功能的巨大自然多样性来经济地生产燃料具有巨大的潜在好处。然而，为了提高生物燃料生物工艺的生产力或效率，不可避免地必须对任何给定生物体的固有能力进行修改。从广泛的角度来看，挑战在于充分了解细胞功能的细节，以便能够前瞻性地预测和修改微生物的细胞功能。实验和计算系统生物学方法的最新进展可用于更好地了解细胞水平的功能并指导未来的实验。由于需要快速开发可行的可再生生物燃料工艺，因此必须在获取生物学知识的深度和应用该知识之间保持平衡。
