Production of chemicals in microbes often employs potent biosynthetic enzymes, which can interact with the microbial native metabolism to affect cell fitness and product yield. However, production optimization largely relies on data collected from wild-type strains in the absence of metabolic perturbations, thus limiting their relevance to specific conditions. Here, we address this issue by cou...

Metabolic glycoengineering is a technique introduced in the early 90s of the last century by Reutter et al.. It utilises the ability of cells to metabolically convert sugar derivatives with bioorthogonal side chains like azides or alkynes and by that incorporation into several glyco structures. Afterwards, the carbohydrates can be labelled to study their distribution, dynamics and roles in diff...

Realizing the promise of metabolic engineering has been slowed by challenges related to moving beyond proof-of-concept examples to robust and economically viable systems. Key to advancing metabolic engineering beyond trial-and-error research is access to parts with well-defined performance metrics that can be readily applied in vastly different contexts with predictable effects. As the field no...

The advent of recombinant DNA technologies over the past 20–30 yr has resulted in an impressive emergence of metabolic engineering as a powerful complement to classical chemical synthesis for the production of specialized pharmaceuticals and industrial compounds. The simplicity and low cost of growing plants makes them ideal systems for metabolic engineering. Here, we intend to provide a perspe...

1 Corresponding author Recent advances in molecular biology techniques, analytical methods and mathematical tools have led to a growing interest in using metabolic engineering to redirect metabolic fluxes for industrial and medical purposes. Metabolic engineering is referred to as the directed improvement of cellular properties through the modification of specific biochemical reactions or the i...