Gene

Engineering

Biotechnology

Bacteria

Biology

Yield (engineering)

Metallurgy

Materials science

Corynebacterium glutamicum

Metabolism

Biochemistry

Computational biology

Biochemical engineering

Metabolic pathway

Genetics

Organic chemistry

Lactic acid

Enzyme

Escherichia coli

Chemistry

Glycolic acid

Metabolic engineering

Synthetic biology

Ethylene glycol

Yeast

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Glycolic acid (GA) and ethylene glycol (EG) are versatile two-carbon organic chemicals used in multiple daily applications. GA and EG are currently produced by chemical synthesis, but their biotechnological production from renewable resources has received a substantial interest. Several different metabolic pathways by using genetically modified microorganisms, such as Escherichia coli, Corynebacterium glutamicum and yeast have been established for their production. As a result, the yield of GA and EG produced from sugars has been significantly improved. Here, we describe the recent advancement in metabolic engineering efforts focusing on metabolic pathways and engineering strategies used for GA and EG production.

Biotechnological production of glycolic acid and ethylene glycol: current state and perspectives