Engineering of Microbial Factories for the Production of Useful Compounds

Dear Colleagues,

(1) Introduction

Microorganisms have long been central in biotechnology. The advances in metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, omics, computational, and machine learning technologies have significantly engineered microbes with the ability to convert simple substrates into complex compounds of interest. Daily consumables mainly result from conventional chemical synthesis using fossil-based feedstocks, leading to hazardous waste and CO₂ emissions. This issue has further increased the industrial interest in applying microbial cell factories to develop environment-friendly and sustainable production systems that synthesize valuable molecules, including pharmaceuticals, biofuels, chemicals, biodegradable materials, etc.

Despite these advances, the practical application of microbial production systems still encounters many challenges. Issues such as low product yields and productivity, metabolic burden, pathway complexity, strain instability, and inefficient scale-up must be addressed before the potential of microbial factories can be acknowledged. Therefore, it is scientifically compelling and industrially essential for the continued research and innovation in microbial engineering and bioprocess.

(2) Aim of the Special Issue

This Special Issue aims to provide a platform to compile the cutting-edge research and comprehensive reviews focusing on genetic modification and process engineering of microbial cell factories for the sustainable and efficient production of valuable compounds. Contributions that address fundamental insights and novel findings are welcome, with particular interest in studies that demonstrate helpful production strategies to overcome current technology bottlenecks.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Metabolic engineering to improve production yield and productivity

Genome editing technologies to reprogram microbes

Omics-based strategies for strain improvement

Exploration of novel microbial chassis

In silico design and AI-assisted design of microbial cell factories

Fermentation process development and scale-up

Prof. Dr. Yun-Peng Chao
Dr. Chung-Jen Chiang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• microbial factories
• metabolic engineering
• synthetic biology
• sustainable bioprocess