Biotechnology

Nanotechnology

Scope (computer science)

Bioconversion

Biology

Fermentation

Engineering

Catalysis

Commodity chemicals

Biochemical engineering

Chemistry

Synthetic biology

Materials science

Programming language

Bioproduction

Computer science

Computational biology

Biochemistry

Downstream processing

Biotechnology Advances

Competitive sustainable production in industry demands new and better biocatalysts, optimized bioprocesses and cost-effective product recovery. Our review sheds light on the progress made for the individual steps towards these goals, starting with the discovery of new enzymes and their corresponding genes. The enzymes are subsequently engineered to improve their performance, combined in reaction cascades to expand the reaction scope and integrated in whole cells to provide an optimal environment for the bioconversion. Strain engineering using synthetic biology methods tunes the host for production, reaction design optimizes the reaction conditions and downstream processing ensures the efficient recovery of commercially viable products. Selected examples illustrate how modified enzymes can revolutionize future-oriented applications ranging from the bioproduction of bulk-, specialty- and fine chemicals, active pharmaceutical ingredients and carbohydrates, over the conversion of the greenhouse-gas CO2 into valuable products and biocontrol in agriculture, to recycling of synthetic polymers and recovery of precious metals.

Enzymes revolutionize the bioproduction of value-added compounds: From enzyme discovery to special applications