Current state of coenzyme Q10 production and its applications

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), an obligatory cofactor in the aerobic respiratory electron transfer for energy generation, is formed from the conjugation of a benzoquinone ring with a hydrophobic isoprenoid chain. CoQ10 is now used as a nutritional supplement because of its antioxidant properties and is beneficial in the treatment of several human diseases when administered orally. Bioprocesses have been developed for the commercial production of CoQ10 because of its increased demand, and these bioprocesses depend on microbes that produce high levels of CoQ10 naturally. However, as knowledge of the biosynthetic enzymes and the regulatory mechanisms modulating CoQ10 production increases, approaches arise for the genetic engineering of CoQ10 production in Escherichia coli and Agrobacterium tumefaciens. This review focused on approaches for CoQ10 production, strategies used to engineer CoQ10 production in microbes, and potential applications of CoQ10.