Yan Xiongying, He Qiaoning, Geng Binan, Yang Shihui
State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, and School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, China.
Biodes Res. 2024 Oct 21;6:0052. doi: 10.34133/bdr.0052. eCollection 2024.
Microbial cell factories (MCFs) are extensively used to produce a wide array of bioproducts, such as bioenergy, biochemical, food, nutrients, and pharmaceuticals, and have been regarded as the "chips" of biomanufacturing that will fuel the emerging bioeconomy era. Biotechnology advances have led to the screening, investigation, and engineering of an increasing number of microorganisms as diverse MCFs, which are the workhorses of biomanufacturing and help develop the bioeconomy. This review briefly summarizes the progress and strategies in the development of robust and efficient MCFs for sustainable and economic biomanufacturing. First, a comprehensive understanding of microbial chassis cells, including accurate genome sequences and corresponding annotations; metabolic and regulatory networks governing substances, energy, physiology, and information; and their similarity and uniqueness compared with those of other microorganisms, is needed. Moreover, the development and application of effective and efficient tools is crucial for engineering both model and nonmodel microbial chassis cells into efficient MCFs, including the identification and characterization of biological parts, as well as the design, synthesis, assembly, editing, and regulation of genes, circuits, and pathways. This review also highlights the necessity of integrating automation and artificial intelligence (AI) with biotechnology to facilitate the development of future customized artificial synthetic MCFs to expedite the industrialization process of biomanufacturing and the bioeconomy.
微生物细胞工厂（MCFs）被广泛用于生产各种各样的生物产品，如生物能源、生化制品、食品、营养物质和药品，并且已被视为生物制造的“芯片”，将为新兴的生物经济时代提供动力。生物技术的进步促使人们筛选、研究和改造越来越多的微生物作为不同的MCFs，它们是生物制造的主力军，有助于发展生物经济。本综述简要总结了开发强大而高效的MCFs以实现可持续和经济生物制造的进展与策略。首先，需要全面了解微生物底盘细胞，包括准确的基因组序列及其注释；控制物质、能量、生理和信息的代谢和调控网络；以及与其他微生物相比它们的相似性和独特性。此外，开发有效且高效的工具对于将模式和非模式微生物底盘细胞工程改造为高效的MCFs至关重要，包括生物部件的识别与表征，以及基因、回路和途径的设计、合成、组装、编辑和调控。本综述还强调了将自动化和人工智能（AI）与生物技术相结合的必要性，以促进未来定制化人工合成MCFs的开发，加快生物制造和生物经济的工业化进程。
