The Role of GroE Chaperonins in Developing Biocatalysts for Biofuel and Chemical Production

Metabolic engineering and synthetic biology have been applied for the discovery and redesign of the potentials of microorganisms for numerous desired purposes. Both model hosting strains and microorganisms with highly-specific functionshave been engineered to improve feedstock utilization, target fuel and chemical production, as well as regulate cellular physiology. For instance, the baker’s yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which was first used by the human society thousands of years ago, has been genetically engineered to ferment otherwise non-fermentable carbon sources. Indeed, C5 sugars such as xylose cannot natively be catabolized by S. cerevisiae. 

However, the engineered S. cerevisiae strains are able to metabolize xylose efficiently and to produce ethanol. Theengineered microbes could simultatneously co-ferment carbon in the hydrolysateof lignocellulosic biomass such as hemicellulose- and cellulose-derived C5/C6 sugars and lignin-derived aromatics and produce fuels and value-added chemicals such as ethanol, n-butanol, sesquiterpenes, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), and fatty acid ethyl esters. These advances are not limited to model hosts, such as S. cerevisiae and Escherichia coli, but have also been demonstrated in Clostridium acetobutylicum, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas putida, and Synechococcus elongatus.