In vivo continuous evolution of metabolic pathways for chemical production

Abstract

Microorganisms have long been used as chemical plant to convert simple substrates into complex molecules. Various metabolic pathways have been optimised over the past few decades, but the progresses were limited due to our finite knowledge on metabolism. Evolution is a knowledge-free genetic randomisation approach, employed to improve the chemical production in microbial cell factories. However, evolution of large, complex pathway was a great challenge. The invention of continuous culturing systems and in vivo genetic diversification technologies have changed the way how laboratory evolution is conducted, render optimisation of large, complex pathway possible. In vivo genetic diversification, phenotypic selection, and continuous cultivation are the key elements in in vivo continuous evolution, where any human intervention in the process is prohibited. This approach is crucial in highly efficient evolution strategy of metabolic pathway evolution.