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Added Value Chemicals and Biofuels

Edited by Prof Akihiko Kondo

To ensure a reliable future source of added value chemicals and energy, the utilization of sustainable biomass has considerable advantages over petroleum-based sources. Microbial Cell Factories presents this ongoing series to cover the development of microorganisms for the production of various added value chemicals and advanced biofuels from biomass. Potential topics include, but are not limited, to engineering microbial strains with high biomass hydrolysis activity, high product yield, productivities and titers, ability to use many carbon sources, and resistance to toxic compounds released during the pretreatment of biomass.

Please see here for further details, including how to submit your new work to the series.

This collection of articles has not been sponsored and articles have undergone the journal’s standard peer-review process. The Guest Editors declare no competing interests.

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  1. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens B10-127 exhibited an excellent ability for industrial-scale microbial fermentation of 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BD) from biodiesel-derived glycerol. However, the a...

    Authors: Taowei Yang, Zhiming Rao, Xian Zhang, Meijuan Xu, Zhenghong Xu and Shang-Tian Yang
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:122
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. Sugar alcohols have been widely applied in the fields of food and medicine owing to their unique properties. Compared to chemical production, microbial production of sugar alcohols has become attractive becaus...

    Authors: Guoqiang Zhang, Yuping Lin, Xianni Qi, Lixian Wang, Peng He, Qinhong Wang and Yanhe Ma
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:112
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is one of the oldest and most frequently used microorganisms in biotechnology with successful applications in the production of both bulk and fine chemicals. Yet, yeast research...

    Authors: Martin Kavšček, Martin Stražar, Tomaž Curk, Klaus Natter and Uroš Petrovič
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:94
    Content type: Review Published on:

  5. A moderate-temperature, astaxanthin-overproducing mutant strain (termed MK19) of Phaffia rhodozyma was generated in our laboratory. The intracellular astaxanthin content of MK19 was 17-fold higher than that of wi...

    Authors: Shuang Chi, Yanfeng He, Jie Ren, Qian Su, Xingchao Liu, Zhi Chen, Mingan Wang, Ying Li and Jilun Li
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:90
    Content type: Research Published on:

  6. Biodiesel industry wastes were evaluated as supplements for lipase production by Moniliella spathulata R25L270, which is newly identified yeast with great lipolytic potenti...

    Authors: Lívia T A Souza, Jamil S Oliveira, Marina Q R B Rodrigues, Vera L dos Santos, Benevides C Pessela and Rodrigo R Resende
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:87
    Content type: Research Published on:

  7. Apocarotenoids, like the C13-norisoprenoids, are natural compounds that contribute to the flavor and/or aroma of flowers and foods. They are produced in aromatic plants—like raspberries and roses—by the enzyma...

    Authors: Javiera López, Karen Essus, Il-kwon Kim, Rui Pereira, Jan Herzog, Verena Siewers, Jens Nielsen and Eduardo Agosin
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:84
    Content type: Research Published on:

  8. Heterologous production of natural products in Escherichia coli has emerged as an attractive strategy to obtain molecules of interest. Although technically feasible most of ...

    Authors: Jian Li, Jennifer Jaitzig, Ping Lu, Roderich D Süssmuth and Peter Neubauer
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:83
    Content type: Research Published on:

  9. Microbes are extensively engineered to produce compounds of biotechnological or pharmaceutical interest. However, functional integration of synthetic pathways into the respective host cell metabolism and optim...

    Authors: Philana V van Summeren-Wesenhagen, Raphael Voges, Alexander Dennig, Sascha Sokolowsky, Stephan Noack, Ulrich Schwaneberg and Jan Marienhagen
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:79
    Content type: Technical Notes Published on:

  10. A multi-monocistronic synthetic vector was used to assemble multiple genes of a nucleotide diphosphate (NDP)-sugar biosynthetic pathway to construct robust genetic circuits for the production of valuable flavo...

    Authors: Prakash Parajuli, Ramesh Prasad Pandey, Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang, Amit Kumar Chaudhary and Jae Kyung Sohng
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:76
    Content type: Research Published on:

  11. At present, due to environmental and economic concerns, it is urgent to evolve efficient, clean and secure systems for the production of advanced biofuels from sustainable cheap sources. Biobutanol has proved ...

    Authors: Manuel Becerra, María Esperanza Cerdán and María Isabel González-Siso
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:27
    Content type: Review Published on:

  12. Early trials have demonstrated great potential for the use of duckweed (family Lemnaceae) as the next generation of energy plants for the production of biofuels. Achieving this technological advance demands resea...

    Authors: Haifeng Su, Juan Jiang, Qiuli Lu, Zhao Zhao, Tian Xie, Hai Zhao and Maolin Wang
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:16
    Content type: Research Published on:

  13. Surface active compounds produced by microorganisms are attracting a pronounced interest due to their potential advantages over their synthetic counterparts, and to the fact that they could replace some of the...

    Authors: Eduardo J Gudiña, Jorge FB Pereira, Rita Costa, Dmitry V Evtuguin, João AP Coutinho, José A Teixeira and Lígia R Rodrigues
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:14
    Content type: Research Published on:

  15. The aromatic compounds cinnamic acid (CA) and p-hydroxycinnamic acid (pHCA) are used as flavoring agents as well as precursors of chemicals. These compounds are present in plants at low concentrations, therefore,...

    Authors: Alejandra Vargas-Tah, Luz María Martínez, Georgina Hernández-Chávez, Mario Rocha, Alfredo Martínez, Francisco Bolívar and Guillermo Gosset
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2015 14:6
    Content type: Research Published on:

  17. Short chain diols (propanediols, butanediols, pentanediols) have been widely used in bulk and fine chemical industries as fuels, solvents, polymer monomers and pharmaceutical precursors. The chemical productio...

    Authors: Yudong Jiang, Wei Liu, Huibin Zou, Tao Cheng, Ning Tian and Mo Xian
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:165
    Content type: Review Published on:

  18. Oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) is a lignocellulosic waste produced in palm oil industry. EFB mainly consists of cellulose, hemicellulose (mainly xylan) and lignin and has a great potential to be reused. Conv...

    Authors: Qingxin Li, Wei Ting Ng and Jin Chuan Wu
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:157
    Content type: Research Published on:

  19. Recent efforts demonstrated the potential application of cyanobacteria as a “microbial cell factory” to produce butanol directly from CO2. However, cyanobacteria have very low tolerance to the toxic butanol, whic...

    Authors: Yaxing Wang, Mengliang Shi, Xiangfeng Niu, Xiaoqing Zhang, Lianju Gao, Lei Chen, Jiangxin Wang and Weiwen Zhang
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:151
    Content type: Research Published on:

  20. Bioethanol produced by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is currently one of the most promising alternatives to conventional transport fuels. Lignocellulosic hemicelluloses obtained after hydrothermal pretreatme...

    Authors: Tomohisa Hasunuma, Yoshimi Hori, Takatoshi Sakamoto, Misa Ochiai, Haruyo Hatanaka and Akihiko Kondo
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:145
    Content type: Research Published on:

  21. The aromatic compound catechol is used as a precursor of chemical products having multiple applications. This compound is currently manufactured by chemical synthesis from petroleum-derived raw materials. The ...

    Authors: Víctor E Balderas-Hernández, Luis G Treviño-Quintanilla, Georgina Hernández-Chávez, Alfredo Martinez, Francisco Bolívar and Guillermo Gosset
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:136
    Content type: Research Published on:

  23. Cyanobacteria are increasingly recognized as promising cell factories for the production of renewable biofuels and chemical feedstocks from sunlight, CO2, and water. However, most biotechnological applications...

    Authors: Philipp Erdrich, Henning Knoop, Ralf Steuer and Steffen Klamt
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:128
    Content type: Research Published on:

  24. Isopentenols, such as prenol and isoprenol, are promising advanced biofuels because of their higher energy densities and better combustion efficiencies compared with ethanol. Microbial production of isopenteno...

    Authors: Huaiwei Liu, Yang Wang, Qiang Tang, Wentao Kong, Wook-Jin Chung and Ting Lu
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:135
    Content type: Research Published on:

  25. The production of aromatic amino acids using fermentation processes with recombinant microorganisms can be an advantageous approach to reach their global demands. In addition, a large array of compounds with a...

    Authors: Alberto Rodriguez, Juan A Martnez, Noem Flores, Adelfo Escalante, Guillermo Gosset and Francisco Bolivar
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:126
    Content type: Review Published on:

  26. Recent advances in synthesizing valuable chemicals such as organic acids from low-cost renewable biomass through microbial fermentation have attracted great attention. However, the toxicity of organic acids pr...

    Authors: Han Xiao, Zengyi Shao, Yu Jiang, Sudhanshu Dole and Huimin Zhao
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:121
    Content type: Research Published on:

  27. Styrene is an important building-block petrochemical and monomer used to produce numerous plastics. Whereas styrene bioproduction by Escherichia coli was previously reported, the long-term potential of ...

    Authors: Rebekah McKenna, Brian Thompson, Shawn Pugh and David R Nielsen
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:123
    Content type: Research Published on:

  28. The methylotrophic yeast, Hansenula polymorpha is an industrially important microorganism, and belongs to the best studied yeast species with well-developed tools for ...

    Authors: Olena O Kurylenko, Justyna Ruchala, Orest B Hryniv, Charles A Abbas, Kostyantyn V Dmytruk and Andriy A Sibirny
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:122
    Content type: Research Published on:

  29. The autotransporter (AT) system can potentially be used in the secretion of saccharolytic enzymes for the production of lignocellulosic biofuels and chemicals using Escherichia coli. Although ATs share similar st...

    Authors: Iván Muñoz-Gutiérrez, Cessna Moss-Acosta, Berenice Trujillo-Martinez, Guillermo Gosset and Alfredo Martinez
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:106
    Content type: Research Published on:

  30. 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3HP) is an important chemical precursor for the production of bioplastics. Microbial production of 3HP from glycerol has previously been developed through the optimization of culture c...

    Authors: Kento Tokuyama, Satoshi Ohno, Katsunori Yoshikawa, Takashi Hirasawa, Shotaro Tanaka, Chikara Furusawa and Hiroshi Shimizu
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:64
    Content type: Research Published on:

  31. Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a polymeric nanostructured fibrillar network produced by certain microorganisms, principally Gluconacetobacter xylinus. BC has a great potential of application in many fields. Lignocel...

    Authors: Shuo Zhang, Sandra Winestrand, Xiang Guo, Lin Chen, Feng Hong and Leif J Jönsson
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:62
    Content type: Research Published on:

  32. Old Yellow Enzymes (OYEs) are flavin-dependent enoate reductases (EC 1.6.99.1) that catalyze the stereoselective hydrogenation of electron-poor alkenes. Their ability to generate up to two stereocenters by the tr...

    Authors: Diego Romano, Martina Letizia Contente, Francesco Molinari, Ivano Eberini, Erica Ruvutuso, Cristina Sensi, Alberto Amaretti, Maddalena Rossi and Stefano Raimondi
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:60
    Content type: Research Published on:

  33. Nikkomycins are competitive inhibitors of chitin synthase and inhibit the growth of filamentous fungi, insects, acarids and yeasts. The gene cluster responsible for biosynthesis of nikkomycins has been cloned ...

    Authors: Chi Feng, Hongbo Ling, Deyao Du, Jihui Zhang, Guoqing Niu and Huarong Tan
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:59
    Content type: Research Published on:

  35. Iturin A is a potential lipopeptide antibiotic produced by Bacillus subtilis. Optimization of iturin A yield by adding various concentrations of asparagine (Asn), glutamic acid (Glu) and proline (Pro) during the ...

    Authors: Wenjing Peng, Juan Zhong, Jie Yang, Yanli Ren, Tan Xu, Song Xiao, Jinyan Zhou and Hong Tan
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:54
    Content type: Research Published on:

  36. Spinosad is a macrolide antibiotic produced by Saccharopolyspora spinosa with aerobic fermentation. However, the wild strain has a low productivity. In this article, a computational guided engineering approach wa...

    Authors: Xiaoyang Wang, Chuanbo Zhang, Meiling Wang and Wenyu Lu
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:41
    Content type: Research Published on:

  37. Due to an increasing demand of transportation fuels, a lower availability of cheap crude oil and a lack of sustainability of fossil fuels, a gradual shift from petroleum based fuels towards alternative and ren...

    Authors: Bouke Wim de Jong, Shuobo Shi, Verena Siewers and Jens Nielsen
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:39
    Content type: Research Published on:

  38. Shikimic acid (SA) produced from the seeds of Chinese star anise (Illicium verum) is a key intermediate for the synthesis of neuraminidase inhibitors such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu®), an anti-influenza drug. Howeve...

    Authors: Yan-Yan Cui, Chen Ling, Yuan-Yuan Zhang, Jian Huang and Jian-Zhong Liu
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:21
    Content type: Research Published on:

  39. Sabinene, one kind of monoterpene, accumulated limitedly in natural organisms, is being explored as a potential component for the next generation of aircraft fuels. And demand for advanced fuels impels us to d...

    Authors: Haibo Zhang, Qiang Liu, Yujin Cao, Xinjun Feng, Yanning Zheng, Huibin Zou, Hui Liu, Jianming Yang and Mo Xian
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:20
    Content type: Research Published on:

  40. Nowadays, carotenoids are valuable molecules in different industries such as chemical, pharmaceutical, poultry, food and cosmetics. These pigments not only can act as vitamin A precursors, but also they have c...

    Authors: Luis Carlos Mata-Gómez, Julio César Montañez, Alejandro Méndez-Zavala and Cristóbal Noé Aguilar
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:12
    Content type: Review Published on:

  41. Aspergillus terreus is a natural producer of itaconic acid and is currently used to produce itaconic acid on an industrial scale. The metabolic process for itaconic acid biosynthesis is very similar to the produ...

    Authors: Laura van der Straat, Marloes Vernooij, Marieke Lammers, Willy van den Berg, Tom Schonewille, Jan Cordewener, Ingrid van der Meer, Andries Koops and Leo H de Graaff
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:11
    Content type: Research Published on:

  42. Over the recent years the production of Ehrlich pathway derived chemicals was shown in a variety of hosts such as Escherichia coli, Corynebacterium glutamicum, and yeast. Exemplarily the production of isobutyric ...

    Authors: Karsten Lang, Jessica Zierow, Katja Buehler and Andreas Schmid
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2014 13:2
    Content type: Research Published on:

  43. Moths (Lepidoptera) are highly dependent on chemical communication to find a mate. Compared to conventional unselective insecticides, synthetic pheromones have successfully served to lure male moths as a speci...

    Authors: Åsa K Hagström, Hong-Lei Wang, Marjorie A Liénard, Jean-Marc Lassance, Tomas Johansson and Christer Löfstedt
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2013 12:125
    Content type: Research Published on:

  44. Bacillus subtilis 168 possesses an efficient pathway to metabolize some of the stereoisomers of inositol, including myo-inositol (MI) and scyllo-inositol (SI). Previously we reported a prototype of a B. subtilis ...

    Authors: Kosei Tanaka, Shintaro Tajima, Shinji Takenaka and Ken-ichi Yoshida
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2013 12:124
    Content type: Research Published on:

  45. Poly(4-hydroxybutyrate) (P4HB), belonging to the family of bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), is a strong, flexible and absorbable material which has a large variety of medical applications like tissue en...

    Authors: Sylvaine Le Meur, Manfred Zinn, Thomas Egli, Linda Thöny-Meyer and Qun Ren
    Citation: Microbial Cell Factories 2013 12:123
    Content type: Research Published on: