Work

Advances in synthetic biology for engineering methylotrophic microbial cell factories

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Methanol, a renewable non-food C1 substrate, holds great promise as a feedstock for sustainable biomanufacturing and carbon neutral production. However, its industrial application is hindered by low methanol assimilation efficiency in most microbes. Recent advances in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering have enabled the development of methylotrophic microbial cell factories through strategies including building efficient methanol-utilizing pathways, engineering methanol dehydrogenase for enhanced oxidation efficiency, and optimizing redox balance via cofactor utilization. Additionally, approaches such as mitigating the accumulation of toxic metabolites and adaptive laboratory evolution have been adopted to improve the robustness of synthetic methylotrophs. This review summarizes these innovations and provides a blueprint for rationally designing high-performance microbial platforms to facilitate industrial methanol utilization and advance sustainable development.

Source: Journal of Bacteriology

DOI: 10.1128/jb.00383-25

Authors: Liang Guo, Ran Li, Xi Gao, Liang Zhao, Hongxia Zhang

Institution: Shanxi Normal University

Language: English

Topic: Microbial Metabolic Engineering and Bioproduction

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: diamond

Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Natural Science Foundation of Shanxi Province, National Outstanding Youth Science Fund Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China