Biopolymer production in microbiology by application of metabolic engineering

Polymers play important roles in the development of our society, ranging from common foods and medical products to synthetic resins and biodegradable materials. But traditional production of polymers mainly depends on non-renewable fossil fuels, which not only cause resource scarcity, but also lead to environmental deterioration. Biopolymers produced from renewable biomass have broad applicability, market demand, and promising prospects, due to their low cost and environmental friendliness. The methods of producing a variety of biodegradable biopolymers by microbial cell factories have hence attracted considerable attention. With the development of biotechnologies, more effective tools and strategies are developed to build highly performance engineered microorganisms and applied to generate various biopolymers including polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), polylactic acid (PLA), glycosaminoglycan, rubber, and other macromolecular materials. This review summarizes the recent evolution of the main technologies and applications of metabolic engineering strategies involved in the research of biomass-based synthetic polymers, and some key issues were also highlighted. On this basis, it is expected that more efficient technologies and strategies could be developed to solve these issues and promote the industrial production of these biopolymers.