Mining natural products for advanced biofuels and sustainable bioproducts

Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2023 Dec:84:103003. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2023.103003. Epub 2023 Sep 26.

Abstract

Recently, there has been growing interest in the sustainable production of biofuels and bioproducts derived from renewable sources. Natural products, the largest and more structurally diverse group of metabolites, hold significant promise as sources for such bio-based products. However, there are two primary challenges in harnessing natural products' potential: precise mining of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) that can be used as scaffolds or bioparts and their functional expression for biofuel and bioproduct manufacture. In this review, we explore recent advances in the development of bioinformatic tools for BGC mining and the manipulation of various hosts for natural product-based biofuels and bioproducts manufacture. Moreover, we discuss potential strategies for expanding the chemical diversity of biofuels and bioproducts and enhancing their overall yield.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biofuels*
  • Biological Products*
  • Computational Biology
  • Multigene Family

Substances

  • Biofuels
  • Biological Products