Joint BioEnergy Institute, 5885 Hollis Street, Emeryville, California 94608, USA.
Nature. 2012 Aug 16;488(7411):320-8. doi: 10.1038/nature11478.
Advanced biofuels produced by microorganisms have similar properties to petroleum-based fuels, and can 'drop in' to the existing transportation infrastructure. However, producing these biofuels in yields high enough to be useful requires the engineering of the microorganism's metabolism. Such engineering is not based on just one specific feedstock or host organism. Data-driven and synthetic-biology approaches can be used to optimize both the host and pathways to maximize fuel production. Despite some success, challenges still need to be met to move advanced biofuels towards commercialization, and to compete with more conventional fuels.
微生物生产的先进生物燃料具有与石油基燃料相似的性质，并且可以“融入”现有的交通基础设施。然而，要生产出足够高的产量以使其有用，就需要对微生物的新陈代谢进行工程设计。这种工程设计并不仅基于一种特定的原料或宿主生物体。数据驱动和合成生物学方法可用于优化宿主和途径，以最大限度地提高燃料产量。尽管取得了一些成功，但仍需要应对挑战，才能使先进生物燃料走向商业化，并与更传统的燃料竞争。
