Synthetic Biology and Genome Engineering Strategies in Microbial Systems for Extreme Conditions

To achieve the goals of sustainable bioenergy and biochemical development, we not only need to understand the functional processes of complex biological systems, but also we must identify and implement design principles necessary for engineering advanced biofuel and biochemical production at sufficient titers and cost under extreme conditions (the use of recalcitrant carbon sources, hyperosmotic stress, high and low temperature/pH, cell growth inhibitor, and etc.). Advances in synthetic biology and genome engineering now allows for global analysis at genome, transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome scales. This comprehensive data provides a blueprint for the design of more efficient biofuel or biochemical production strains, but there are often limitations to the improvements that can be made using traditional metabolic engineering methods, especially for complex cellular networks that are not fully understood. The development of multiscale precise genome editing technologies in model microbes (as described above) that allow the introduction of up to thousands of mutations can be utilized to uncover design rules for complex cellular networks and further overcome the limitations. Unfortunately, platform organisms that can sustainably produce biofuels and biochemicals under extreme conditions, often lack the breadth of genetic tools necessary for employing these powerful new genome design and construction strategies. To gain a deeper understanding of the fundamental design principles for complex phenotypes and engineering strategies, for a wider range of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) relevant platform microorganisms, it is of utmost importance that we extend these cutting-edge genome-engineering and pathway prediction technologies to produce high levels of biofuels and bioproducts under extreme conditions.

This Research Topic intends to bring together researchers from various fields, including synthetic biology, genome engineering, metabolic engineering, and bioengineering to improve biochemical and biofuel production under extreme conditions such as hyperosmotic stress, high and low temperature/pH, the presence of cell growth inhibitors and the use of recalcitrant carbon sources. We welcome contributions in the form of Original Research and Review Articles that provide a comprehensive discussion and analysis of the current success and future outlooks for synthetic biology and genome engineering strategies.

Topics covered may include, but are not limited to:

• Development of platform organisms capable of efficient conversion of recalcitrant carbon sources (e.g. Syngas, Methanol, sunlight, CO₂, non-food biomass) to bioproducts

• To develop a genome-editing technology platform for directed evolution of producing strain to improve their performance under extreme conditions

• Standardization of synthetic biological parts and devices for extreme conditions

• Design, build, and test the genome-scale metabolic networks for reprogramming the inner metabolism under extreme conditions

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.