Metabolic engineering of clostridia for the production of chemicals

There have recently been significant advances in bio-based production of chemicals from renewable resources. Microorganisms belonging to the genus Clostridium have been considered as one of the promising hosts for the production of desired chemicals of wide industrial use. Clostridium strains have capability to utilize diverse carbon sources, including C5 and C6 substrates, which thus allows production of chemicals from inexpensive and abundant biomass such as corn stover, straw, and woody waste. In addition, Clostridium strains naturally produce various chemicals, such as acetic acid, butyric acid, ethanol, isopropanol, butanol, 1,3-propanediol, 2,3-butanediol, and acetone. Recently, several important strategies for the metabolic engineering of Clostridium have been developed not only for the enhanced production of these natural products and but also for the production of non-natural isobutanol production. Here, we review the strategies employed for the development of metabolically engineered Clostridium strains for the production of such chemicals and provide future perspectives. (C) 2014 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd