Recent developments in microbial metabolic engineering for the production of 1,3-propanediol

Integration of metabolic engineering and fermentation production technologies is necessary for the successful commercial production of chemicals. For the case of biological production of 1,3-propanediol with glycerol, the natural strains are utilized to produce 1,3-propanediol, but the by-products inhibit the product yield for consuming reducing equivalents, however by means of metabolic engineering, this problem can be solved. Besides, by means of utilizing genes from natural strains that produce 1,3-propanediol from glycerol, a recombinant strain that utilizes the cheaper feedstock glucose can be realized, it will increase the competitiveness of the biological production of 1,3-propanediol. In this article, the metabolic engineerings of the glycerol pathway and glucose pathway are reviewed respectively, as well as the recent developments and new trends.