Pub Date : 2026-02-03DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103448
Prashant S Phale, Tushar Dhamale, Sandesh E Papade, Ram K Kumawat
Emerging aromatic pollutants originating from pesticides, including insecticides, herbicides, pesticide additives, surfactants, and mulching films, are increasingly contaminating agro-ecosystems. Their widespread use, recalcitrance, and toxicity pose serious risks to the environment as well as human health. Bacteria possess remarkable potential to degrade these persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic aromatic pollutants. This review focuses on metabolic fate and eco-physiological traits that bacteria employ for survival and effective degradation of xenobiotics that commonly persist in agricultural fields. It also highlights opportunities and challenges of a holistic approach using bacteria, that is, integrating pollutant biodegradation, plant growth promotion, and biocontrol activities to restore soil health and crop productivity.
{"title":"Bacterial degradation of emerging aromatic pollutants and integrated strategies for sustainable healthy agro-ecosystem.","authors":"Prashant S Phale, Tushar Dhamale, Sandesh E Papade, Ram K Kumawat","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103448","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103448","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Emerging aromatic pollutants originating from pesticides, including insecticides, herbicides, pesticide additives, surfactants, and mulching films, are increasingly contaminating agro-ecosystems. Their widespread use, recalcitrance, and toxicity pose serious risks to the environment as well as human health. Bacteria possess remarkable potential to degrade these persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic aromatic pollutants. This review focuses on metabolic fate and eco-physiological traits that bacteria employ for survival and effective degradation of xenobiotics that commonly persist in agricultural fields. It also highlights opportunities and challenges of a holistic approach using bacteria, that is, integrating pollutant biodegradation, plant growth promotion, and biocontrol activities to restore soil health and crop productivity.</p>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"98 ","pages":"103448"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146117465","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-03DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103447
Yi-Nan Liu, Yidan Hu, Bin Cao
Biofilms have emerged as promising biocatalysts due to their distinct structural and functional advantages. Since biofilm dynamics shape biofilm architecture and catalytic performance, engineering strategies to control these dynamics are key to improving biofilm-based catalysis. In this review, we outline the fundamental features and catalytic benefits of biofilms, with a focus on biofilm dynamics. We highlight recent advances in regulatory strategies, from the manipulation of biofilm-associated genes to the design of synthetic circuits based on signaling networks that govern biofilm development. We further discuss current challenges, including limited regulatory efficiency, restricted applicability beyond model organisms, and the need for biofilm functional enhancement. Collectively, these insights position the control of biofilm dynamics as a frontier for advancing next-generation biofilm-based biocatalysis.
{"title":"Controlling biofilm dynamics to unlock the future of biofilm-based biocatalysis.","authors":"Yi-Nan Liu, Yidan Hu, Bin Cao","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103447","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103447","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Biofilms have emerged as promising biocatalysts due to their distinct structural and functional advantages. Since biofilm dynamics shape biofilm architecture and catalytic performance, engineering strategies to control these dynamics are key to improving biofilm-based catalysis. In this review, we outline the fundamental features and catalytic benefits of biofilms, with a focus on biofilm dynamics. We highlight recent advances in regulatory strategies, from the manipulation of biofilm-associated genes to the design of synthetic circuits based on signaling networks that govern biofilm development. We further discuss current challenges, including limited regulatory efficiency, restricted applicability beyond model organisms, and the need for biofilm functional enhancement. Collectively, these insights position the control of biofilm dynamics as a frontier for advancing next-generation biofilm-based biocatalysis.</p>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"98 ","pages":"103447"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146117601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-03DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103446
Lawrence P Wackett
Organofluorine compounds are of considerable concern due to their environmental persistence and human health effects. Their persistence stems from an inability of native microorganisms to metabolize them. Polyfluorinated compounds are unnatural, offer little nutritional benefit to microorganisms, and their breakdown releases toxic fluoride anion. Yet, the biological breakdown of dispersed polyfluorinated compounds would offer a compelling strategy for environmental remediation. In this context, molecular biotechnology is being pursued. The first required tools are methods for monitoring biodefluorination, often determining fluoride release by different methods. The use of those methods revealed fluoride toxicity as a major selection against biodefluorination. Despite that, microbial enzymes catalyzing defluorination of monofluorinated compounds are known and provide templates for bioengineering systems to handle polyfluorinated compounds. Whereas biodegradation often evolves in nature, effective biodegradation of perfluorinated chemicals may require laboratory evolution and engineering.
{"title":"Molecular biotechnology for the biodegradation of organofluorine compounds.","authors":"Lawrence P Wackett","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103446","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103446","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Organofluorine compounds are of considerable concern due to their environmental persistence and human health effects. Their persistence stems from an inability of native microorganisms to metabolize them. Polyfluorinated compounds are unnatural, offer little nutritional benefit to microorganisms, and their breakdown releases toxic fluoride anion. Yet, the biological breakdown of dispersed polyfluorinated compounds would offer a compelling strategy for environmental remediation. In this context, molecular biotechnology is being pursued. The first required tools are methods for monitoring biodefluorination, often determining fluoride release by different methods. The use of those methods revealed fluoride toxicity as a major selection against biodefluorination. Despite that, microbial enzymes catalyzing defluorination of monofluorinated compounds are known and provide templates for bioengineering systems to handle polyfluorinated compounds. Whereas biodegradation often evolves in nature, effective biodegradation of perfluorinated chemicals may require laboratory evolution and engineering.</p>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"98 ","pages":"103446"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146117551","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-29DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103436
Dorsa Sattari Khavas , Samuel K Schwartz , Presley Bird , Albert Truong , Jonathan J Silberg
Microbes regulate their dynamic behaviors using the chemical and physical characteristics of their environment. The ability of microbes to continuously convert this physicochemical information into biochemical information and to use organic matter in the environment as a power source makes these organisms attractive as chassis for building sensors. However, most biosensors have severe limitations when considering applications in hard-to-image settings like soils, sediments, and wastewater. Emerging technologies at the interface of biomolecular design, microbiome engineering, and synthetic biology offer new tools to program cells and communities as biosensors for these settings. In this review, we describe innovations in biosensor outputs that are enabling new applications in complex environments, including reporters that are read out using electrochemical, gas chromatography, hyperspectral imaging, and next-generation sequencing methods. We also discuss computational advances that are accelerating the diversification of sensing components by mining metagenomics data for new transcriptional regulators and by designing allosteric protein switches that directly regulate reporter outputs using analytes. We highlight emerging opportunities for programming undomesticated microbes in communities to function as distributed sensors in the environment. Finally, we discuss the need for responsible biosensor development and to modernize regulatory frameworks to support evidence-based assessment of environmental biosensors.
{"title":"Microbial spies and bloggers: programming cells to convert environmental information into discernible signals","authors":"Dorsa Sattari Khavas , Samuel K Schwartz , Presley Bird , Albert Truong , Jonathan J Silberg","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103436","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103436","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Microbes regulate their dynamic behaviors using the chemical and physical characteristics of their environment. The ability of microbes to continuously convert this physicochemical information into biochemical information and to use organic matter in the environment as a power source makes these organisms attractive as chassis for building sensors. However, most biosensors have severe limitations when considering applications in hard-to-image settings like soils, sediments, and wastewater. Emerging technologies at the interface of biomolecular design, microbiome engineering, and synthetic biology offer new tools to program cells and communities as biosensors for these settings. In this review, we describe innovations in biosensor outputs that are enabling new applications in complex environments, including reporters that are read out using electrochemical, gas chromatography, hyperspectral imaging, and next-generation sequencing methods. We also discuss computational advances that are accelerating the diversification of sensing components by mining metagenomics data for new transcriptional regulators and by designing allosteric protein switches that directly regulate reporter outputs using analytes. We highlight emerging opportunities for programming undomesticated microbes in communities to function as distributed sensors in the environment. Finally, we discuss the need for responsible biosensor development and to modernize regulatory frameworks to support evidence-based assessment of environmental biosensors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 103436"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146090685","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Methanol, a promising one-carbon (C1) feedstock for biofuels, faces challenges in bioconversion due to its cellular toxicity. This review summarizes recent advances in methanol-based biosynthesis of biofuels, such as short-chain alcohols, fatty acid derivatives, and terpenoids, in both native and synthetic methylotrophs. We also discuss the mechanisms of methanol cytotoxicity and systematically examine engineering strategies to enhance methanol utilization and tolerance, including metabolic pathway rewiring, compartmentalization, and adaptive evolution. Finally, we highlight that integrating systems biology and synthetic biology can pave the way toward sustainable methanol-based biomanufacturing.
{"title":"From toxin to biofuel: engineering microbes for methanol biomanufacturing","authors":"Rui Hou , Xiaoxin Zhai , Yongjin J Zhou , Jiaoqi Gao","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103442","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103442","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Methanol, a promising one-carbon (C1) feedstock for biofuels, faces challenges in bioconversion due to its cellular toxicity. This review summarizes recent advances in methanol-based biosynthesis of biofuels, such as short-chain alcohols, fatty acid derivatives, and terpenoids, in both native and synthetic methylotrophs. We also discuss the mechanisms of methanol cytotoxicity and systematically examine engineering strategies to enhance methanol utilization and tolerance, including metabolic pathway rewiring, compartmentalization, and adaptive evolution. Finally, we highlight that integrating systems biology and synthetic biology can pave the way toward sustainable methanol-based biomanufacturing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 103442"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146084490","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-27DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103439
Jingyun Zhang , Dan Zheng , Sheena Chan , Matthew W Chang , Chueh Loo Poh
High-throughput screening (HTS) platforms and automated biofoundries have enabled large-scale experimentation in enzyme and microbial strain engineering. Central to HTS are biosensors and assays, which translate biochemical activities into measurable signals, enabling rapid evaluation of cellular and enzymatic performance. Yet despite advancements in high-throughput infrastructure, the limited availability of robust biosensors or assays and the difficulty of integrating them with HTS, particularly with ultra-HTS, remains a major bottleneck. This review highlights recent progress and challenges in applying biosensors- and assays-enabled HTS for enzyme and strain libraries. We discuss strategies for integrating diverse biosensor types, including transcription factors, G protein-coupled receptors, aptamers, fluorogenic RNAs, riboswitches, and colorimetric assays, with HTS to detect a broad range of metabolites and products. We also explore how biosensor-enabled HTS facilitates data generation for machine learning-guided biocatalyst engineering. Collectively, these advances accelerate biocatalyst discovery and drive the next generation of sustainable biomanufacturing.
{"title":"Emerging biosensor and assay-enabled high-throughput screening solutions for enzyme and strain engineering","authors":"Jingyun Zhang , Dan Zheng , Sheena Chan , Matthew W Chang , Chueh Loo Poh","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103439","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103439","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>High-throughput screening (HTS) platforms and automated biofoundries have enabled large-scale experimentation in enzyme and microbial strain engineering. Central to HTS are biosensors and assays, which translate biochemical activities into measurable signals, enabling rapid evaluation of cellular and enzymatic performance. Yet despite advancements in high-throughput infrastructure, the limited availability of robust biosensors or assays and the difficulty of integrating them with HTS, particularly with ultra-HTS, remains a major bottleneck. This review highlights recent progress and challenges in applying biosensors- and assays-enabled HTS for enzyme and strain libraries. We discuss strategies for integrating diverse biosensor types, including transcription factors, G protein-coupled receptors, aptamers, fluorogenic RNAs, riboswitches, and colorimetric assays, with HTS to detect a broad range of metabolites and products. We also explore how biosensor-enabled HTS facilitates data generation for machine learning-guided biocatalyst engineering. Collectively, these advances accelerate biocatalyst discovery and drive the next generation of sustainable biomanufacturing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 103439"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146090684","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-27DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103445
Pingzhi Zhao , Qiudong Xia , Jian Ye
Insect-borne plant diseases, such as psyllid-transmitted citrus Huanglongbing (HLB) and whitefly-transmitted viral diseases, pose a major threat to global agriculture. These insect-borne pathogens establish in multipartite interactions with host plants and insect vectors, frequently altering host physiology and vector behavior to facilitate transmission. This review examines recent advances in plant defense against these pathogens, as well as pathogen strategies that undermine host defenses. We emphasize the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) in accelerating scientific research and technological advancements for managing insect-borne diseases. These strategies contribute to building an integrated platform, which trains scientific foundation models and creates AI agents to automate research workflows and test hypotheses. They also provided precision intervention strategies by identifying resistance genes, developing in silico approaches to develop new pesticides, and synthetic immune proteins. These AI platforms for insect-borne plant diseases enable a systemic understanding of the complex pathogen–plant–insect interactions, thereby offering new opportunities for controlling disease outbreaks and epidemics.
{"title":"AI-empowered crop protection against insect-borne diseases","authors":"Pingzhi Zhao , Qiudong Xia , Jian Ye","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103445","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103445","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Insect-borne plant diseases, such as psyllid-transmitted citrus Huanglongbing (HLB) and whitefly-transmitted viral diseases, pose a major threat to global agriculture. These insect-borne pathogens establish in multipartite interactions with host plants and insect vectors, frequently altering host physiology and vector behavior to facilitate transmission. This review examines recent advances in plant defense against these pathogens, as well as pathogen strategies that undermine host defenses. We emphasize the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) in accelerating scientific research and technological advancements for managing insect-borne diseases. These strategies contribute to building an integrated platform, which trains scientific foundation models and creates AI agents to automate research workflows and test hypotheses. They also provided precision intervention strategies by identifying resistance genes, developing <em>in silico</em> approaches to develop new pesticides, and synthetic immune proteins. These AI platforms for insect-borne plant diseases enable a systemic understanding of the complex pathogen–plant–insect interactions, thereby offering new opportunities for controlling disease outbreaks and epidemics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 103445"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146090683","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-26DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103440
Yani Li , Yanting Wang , Siyu Zhu , Zhongmin Tang
Metabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, etc., are an escalating global health challenge with substantial clinical and socio-economic burdens. Conventional pharmacological therapies are constrained by short-term efficacy, instability, and energy-intensive production. This review aims to evaluate how synthetic biology enables engineered probiotics and microbial systems as self-regulating, living therapeutics that integrate precision treatment with sustainable, bio-based production. Such systems can secrete therapeutic molecules, degrade harmful metabolites, remodel host metabolic microenvironments, and respond to physiological signals to achieve adaptive, feedback-controlled interventions. By exploiting versatile microbial hosts and low-energy fermentation, they minimize chemical waste and carbon footprint. We also discussed preclinical studies demonstrating restored glucose and lipid homeostasis, modulation of appetite, and attenuation of inflammation. Collectively, our review highlights that synthetic biology exemplifies a transformative, sustainable paradigm for metabolic disease management.
{"title":"Engineering microbial therapeutics for metabolic disorders: synthetic biology strategies and future direction","authors":"Yani Li , Yanting Wang , Siyu Zhu , Zhongmin Tang","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103440","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103440","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Metabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, etc., are an escalating global health challenge with substantial clinical and socio-economic burdens. Conventional pharmacological therapies are constrained by short-term efficacy, instability, and energy-intensive production. This review aims to evaluate how synthetic biology enables engineered probiotics and microbial systems as self-regulating, living therapeutics that integrate precision treatment with sustainable, bio-based production. Such systems can secrete therapeutic molecules, degrade harmful metabolites, remodel host metabolic microenvironments, and respond to physiological signals to achieve adaptive, feedback-controlled interventions. By exploiting versatile microbial hosts and low-energy fermentation, they minimize chemical waste and carbon footprint. We also discussed preclinical studies demonstrating restored glucose and lipid homeostasis, modulation of appetite, and attenuation of inflammation. Collectively, our review highlights that synthetic biology exemplifies a transformative, sustainable paradigm for metabolic disease management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 103440"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146045251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-23DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103443
Jose I Jiménez , Catalina Cruañas Pániker , Brooke H Wain
The extensive production, durability, and waste mismanagement of plastic polymers have led to a highly concerning environmental problem. Recycling methods aim to reduce the amount of plastic pollution, and among them, biological processes have emerged as an interesting alternative for the management of plastic waste that is difficult to collect or can not be recycled by other methods. While there has been significant progress in the field, in particular related to the enzymatic hydrolysis of polyesters, most biological methods rely on the use of enzymes in vitro, using collected plastics. In this review, we explore the status of technologies using whole-cell catalysts that could be used for in vivo upcycling of plastic waste — with plastic becoming a microbial feedstock — and for the development of biodegradation strategies in relevant environments. We have identified a number of barriers related to polymer bioavailability, enzyme activity and secretion, and the use of strains and microbial communities that need to be overcome to materialize a much-needed solution to plastic pollution.
{"title":"Engineering whole-cell catalysts to use plastic waste as a feedstock","authors":"Jose I Jiménez , Catalina Cruañas Pániker , Brooke H Wain","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103443","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103443","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The extensive production, durability, and waste mismanagement of plastic polymers have led to a highly concerning environmental problem. Recycling methods aim to reduce the amount of plastic pollution, and among them, biological processes have emerged as an interesting alternative for the management of plastic waste that is difficult to collect or can not be recycled by other methods. While there has been significant progress in the field, in particular related to the enzymatic hydrolysis of polyesters, most biological methods rely on the use of enzymes <em>in vitro</em>, using collected plastics. In this review, we explore the status of technologies using whole-cell catalysts that could be used for <em>in vivo</em> upcycling of plastic waste — with plastic becoming a microbial feedstock — and for the development of biodegradation strategies in relevant environments. We have identified a number of barriers related to polymer bioavailability, enzyme activity and secretion, and the use of strains and microbial communities that need to be overcome to materialize a much-needed solution to plastic pollution.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"97 ","pages":"Article 103443"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146022775","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-22DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103441
Zhe Zhao , Weihan Chen , Hongwei Yu , Lidan Ye
Terpenoid-based biofuels represent a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels with superior energy densities and combustion properties. However, achieving industrial-scale production requires overcoming multiple bottlenecks: heterologous enzyme incompatibility, metabolic flux imbalance, product toxicity, and economic viability. This review synthesizes recent breakthroughs in addressing these challenges through enzyme engineering, metabolic rewiring, host tolerance enhancement, and feedstock utilization. Simultaneously, the field is positioned at a critical juncture where convergent technologies — generative artificial intelligence for protein discovery, synthetic organelles via liquid–liquid phase separation, and engineering of non-natural terpenoid scaffolds (C₁₁, C₁₆) — promise transformative advances. This review provides a roadmap integrating these emerging capabilities to advance terpenoid-based biofuels toward commercial viability.
{"title":"Recent developments in terpenoid biosynthesis for sustainable biofuels: from bottlenecks to emerging convergent technologies","authors":"Zhe Zhao , Weihan Chen , Hongwei Yu , Lidan Ye","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103441","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2026.103441","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Terpenoid-based biofuels represent a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels with superior energy densities and combustion properties. However, achieving industrial-scale production requires overcoming multiple bottlenecks: heterologous enzyme incompatibility, metabolic flux imbalance, product toxicity, and economic viability. This review synthesizes recent breakthroughs in addressing these challenges through enzyme engineering, metabolic rewiring, host tolerance enhancement, and feedstock utilization. Simultaneously, the field is positioned at a critical juncture where convergent technologies — generative artificial intelligence for protein discovery, synthetic organelles via liquid–liquid phase separation, and engineering of non-natural terpenoid scaffolds (C₁₁, C₁₆) — promise transformative advances. This review provides a roadmap integrating these emerging capabilities to advance terpenoid-based biofuels toward commercial viability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"97 ","pages":"Article 103441"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146022774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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