Recent Advances in Microbial Cell Growth Regulation Strategies for Metabolic Engineering

Programming a new function into cells and balancing new functions with native cellular metabolism or program related to cell growth have long been a challenge in metabolic engineering. In this regard, advances in synthetic biology and systems biology have broadly expanded the cell growth control strategies, empowering the strategies to be applied in metabolic engineering more effectively. In this review, we describe the advances and perspectives in cell growth control strategies. First, the strategies to utilize the environmental stress was described. Second, the strategies to precisely regulate the central metabolism and to exploit the cellular programs were summarized. Third, strategies related to evolutionary engineering, which have evolved significantly, including the emergence of new types of screening devices, have been summarized. Lastly, we described the strategies through exploiting new systems that are being actively applied in metabolic engineering. We hope that our review can provide enough information and perspectives in growth control strategies.