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Engineering propionibacteria as versatile cell factories for the production of industrially important chemicals: advances, challenges, and prospects

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Abstract

Propionibacteria are actinobacteria consisting of two principal groups: cutaneous and dairy. Cutaneous propionibacteria are considered primary pathogens to humans, whereas dairy propionibacteria are widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Increasing attention has been focused on improving the performance of dairy propionibacteria for the production of industrially important chemicals, and significant advances have been made through strain engineering and process optimization in the production of flavor compounds, nutraceuticals, and antimicrobial compounds. In addition, genome sequencing of several propionibacteria species has been completed, deepening understanding of the metabolic and physiological features of these organisms. However, the metabolic engineering of propionibacteria still faces several challenges owing to the lack of efficient genome manipulation tools and the existence of various types of strong restriction-modification systems. The emergence of systems and synthetic biology provides new opportunities to overcome these bottlenecks. In this review, we first introduce the major species of propionibacteria and their properties and provide an overview of their functions and applications. We then discuss advances in the genome sequencing and metabolic engineering of these bacteria. Finally, we discuss systems and synthetic biology approaches for engineering propionibacteria as efficient and robust cell factories for the production of industrially important chemicals.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported financially by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, the 111 Project (111-2-06), 863 Program (2011AA100905), and 973 Program (2013CB733902).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China

    Ningzi Guan, Xin Zhuge, Jianghua Li, Zhongping Shi & Long Liu

  2. Synergetic Innovation of Center of Food Safety and Nutrition, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China

    Jianghua Li & Long Liu

  3. School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA

    Hyun-dong Shin

  4. State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China

    Jing Wu

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  1. Ningzi Guan
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  2. Xin Zhuge
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  3. Jianghua Li
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  4. Hyun-dong Shin
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  5. Jing Wu
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  6. Zhongping Shi
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Correspondence to Zhongping Shi or Long Liu.

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Guan, N., Zhuge, X., Li, J. et al. Engineering propionibacteria as versatile cell factories for the production of industrially important chemicals: advances, challenges, and prospects. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 99, 585–600 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-6228-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-6228-z

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