Physiological limitations and opportunities in microbial metabolic engineering. Author José López, Lisset Duran, José Avalos Publication Year 2022 Type Journal Article Abstract Metabolic engineering can have a pivotal role in increasing the environmental sustainability of the transportation and chemical manufacturing sectors. The field has already developed engineered microorganisms that are currently being used in industrial-scale processes. However, it is often challenging to achieve the titres, yields and productivities required for commercial viability. The efficiency of microbial chemical production is usually dependent on the physiological traits of the host organism, which may either impose limitations on engineered biosynthetic pathways or, conversely, boost their performance. In this Review, we discuss different aspects of microbial physiology that often create obstacles for metabolic engineering, and present solutions to overcome them. We also describe various instances in which natural or engineered physiological traits in host organisms have been harnessed to benefit engineered metabolic pathways for chemical production. Keywords Bacterial Physiological Phenomena, Bacteria, Biosynthetic Pathways, Metabolic Networks and Pathways, Metabolic Engineering, Industrial Microbiology Journal Nat Rev Microbiol Volume 20 Issue 1 Pages 35-48 Date Published 2022 Jan ISSN Number 1740-1534 DOI 10.1038/s41579-021-00600-0 Alternate Journal Nat Rev Microbiol PMCID 5812522 PMID 34341566 PubMedPubMed CentralGoogle ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML