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REVIEW article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbiotechnology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1570406
This article is part of the Research TopicMetabolic Engineering and Synthetic Biology for Sustainable Microbial Cell FactoriesView all articles
Heterologous production of caffeic acid in microbial hosts: current status and perspectives
Provisionally accepted- 1Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
- 2Nankai University, Tianjin, China
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Caffeic acid, a plant-derived phenolic compound, has attracted much attention in the fields of medicines and cosmetics due to its remarkable physiological activities including antioxidant, antiinflammation, antibacteria, antivirus and hemostasis. However, traditional plant extraction and chemical synthesis methods exist some problems such as high production costs, low extraction efficiency and environmental pollution. In recent years, the construction of microbial cell factories for the biosynthesis of caffeic acid has attracted much attention due to its potential to offer an efficient and environmentally-friendly alternative for caffeic acid production. This review introduces the caffeic acid biosynthesis pathway first, after which the characteristics of microbial hosts for caffeic acid production are analyzed. Then, the main strategies for caffeic acid production in microbial hosts, including selection and optimization of heterologous enzymes, enhancement of the metabolic flux to caffeic acid, supply and recycling of cofactor, and optimization of the production process, are summarized and discussed. Finally, the future prospects and perspectives of microbial caffeic acid production are discussed. Recent breakthroughs have achieved caffeic acid titers of up to 6.17 g/L, demonstrating the potential of microbial biosynthesis. Future research can focus on the enhancement of metabolic flux to caffeic acid biosynthesis pathway, the development of robust microbial hosts with improved tolerance to caffeic acid and its precursors, and the establishment of cost-effective industrial production processes.
Keywords: Caffeic acid, Microbial production, Pathway Engineering, Metabolic Engineering, Synthetic Biology
Received: 03 Feb 2025; Accepted: 14 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Li, Zhang, Liao, Wang and Qiao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Fenghuan Wang, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing, 102488, Beijing Municipality, China
Mingqiang Qiao, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.