Metabolic Engineering of Industrial Microorganisms for Integrated Biopolymer and Biofuel Production

Abstract

The increasing demand for sustainable materials and renewable energy sources has accelerated the development of advanced 
biotechnological strategies for the efficient production of biopolymers and biofuels. Microorganisms in industry, particularly, 
Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Cupriavidus necator, and Pseudomonas putida have become promising microbial 
platforms because of their metabolic plasticity, high growth rate, and genetic accessibility. The proposed research will examine the 
prospects of metabolic engineering methods to systematically produce biopolymers and biofuels in the same microbial cell, which 
will improve resource use and process sustainability. The proposed methodology entails altering important metabolic pathways by 
introducing genes and maximizing pathways to divert carbon flux towards the co-production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and 
bioethanol. The performance of fermentation was measured under controlled conditions by use of glucose as the primary carbon 
source and while productivity, yield, carbon conversion efficiency and substrate utilization efficiency was used as key performance 
indicators. The engineered microbial strains were shown to have tremendous gains in biomass growth; biopolymers formation and 
yield of biofuels as compared to the conventional strains. Also, more efficient use of carbon and increased productivity emphasized 
the benefits of metabolic pathway redesign in meeting the co-production goals. The results imply that combining metabolic 
engineering methods can significantly enhance the economic and environmental sustainability of industrial bioprocesses. The 
study helps in the development of sustainable biomanufacturing and in the creation of future generation microbial cell factories 
to implement in the circular bioeconomy.