Microbial Routes to (2R,3R)-2,3-Butanediol: Recent Advances and Future Prospects

Abstract

(2R,3R)-2,3-Butanediol has many industrial applications, such as it is used as an antifreeze agent and low freezing point fuel. In addition, it is particularly important to provide chiral groups in drugs. In recent years, this valuable bio-based chemical has attracted increasing attention, and significant progress has been made in the development of microbial cell factories for (2R,3R)-2,3-butanediol production. This article reviews recent advances and challenges in microbial routes to (2R,3R)-2,3- butanediol production, and highlights the metabolic engineering and synthetic biological approaches used to improve titers, yields, productivities, and optical purities. Finally, a systematic and integrative strategy for developing high-performance microbial cell factories is proposed.

Production of C2–C4 diols from renewable bioresources: new metabolic pathways and metabolic engineering strategies

“…The main strategies to improve the production of 2,3-BDO can be divided into four categories: (1) reduction of byproduct formation [ 92 , 93 ]; (2) engineering of cofactor recycling [ 101 ]; (3) enhancement of glycolysis and 2,3-BDO synthesis pathway [ 102 ]; and (4) heterologous expression of 2,3-BDO synthesis pathway [ 103 – 107 ]. Detailed description of the strategies can refer to several recently published reviews [ 102 , 108 – 110 ]. The first two strategies are most efficient for enhancing the production of 2,3-BDO by natural producers.…”

A rapid and sensitive enzymatic assay for 2,3-butanediol

“…2,3-Butanediol (2,3-BDO) is a building block for useful chemicals such as methyl ethyl ketone and 1,3-butanediene, and 2,3-BDO can be used as an antifreeze agent and fuel and octane booster and for the production of plasticizers and fumigants. Considerable research on 2,3-BDO production is being carried out using biological methods (Xie et al 2017;Yang et al 2017). The quantitative detection of 2,3-BDO in fermentation broth is normally performed using gas chromatography (GC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) (Kim et al 2013;Xiao et al 2010).…”