Recent Strategies for 2,3-Butanediol Production Using Metabolically Engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

2,3-Butanediol (2,3-BDO) is a chemical building block with wide industrial applications for food flavors, cosmetics, synthetic rubber and biosolvents. Saccharomyces cerevisiae can be used as a host which is an alternative to 2,3-BDO producing bacteria. To produce 2,3-BDO with high yield and titer, it is required to engineer S. cerevisiae by intensifying 2,3-BDO biosynthetic pathway and deleting competing pathway such as ethanol and glycerol pathway. Also, 2,3-BDO production from lignocellulosic and marine-algae biomass can make the 2,3-BDO production more economical and sustainable. These processes can be obtained by facilitating assimilation of carbon sources including xylose, cellobiose and galactose in S. cerevisiae along with 2,3-BDO biosynthetic pathway. These cutting-edge technologies of metabolic engineering enable S. cerevisiae to be a promising microbial host for 2,3-BDO production with industrial applications.