Abstract
Lignin is an abundant and sustainable source of aromatic compounds that can be converted to value-added products. However, lignin is underutilized, since depolymerization produces a complex mixture of aromatic compounds that is difficult to convert to a single product. Microbial conversion of mixed aromatic substrates provides a potential solution to this conversion challenge. Recent advances have expanded the range of lignin-derived aromatic substrates that can be assimilated and demonstrated efficient conversion via central metabolism to new potential products. The development of additional non-model microbial hosts and genetic tools for these hosts have accelerated engineering efforts. However, yields with real depolymerized lignin are still low, and additional work will be required to achieve viable conversion processes.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 64-72 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Current Opinion in Microbiology |
| Volume | 65 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2022 |
Funding
This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy , Office of Science , Office of Biological and Environmental Research , through an Early Career Award to JKM. The authors thank numerous members of the Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Centers for helpful discussions on this topic.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| Office of Science | |
| Biological and Environmental Research |