About this Research Topic
Synthetic polyesters are traditionally obtained from the polymerization of variable ester monomers via mature synthetic routes from fossil resources. To reduce the consumption of dwindling fossil resources and achieve a more environmentally friendly approach, the sustainable development of the polyester industry demands more renewable resources and environmentally-benign polyester products. With the rapid development of microbial technologies, bio-derived and biodegradable biopolyester products are in fast development and waiting to be practically utilized in the polyester industry. The efficient microbial production of biopolyesters, or their ester monomers, often employs multiple techniques in variable fields like applied microbiology, synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, enzyme engineering, process engineering and material science.
To compete with synthetic polyesters, biopolyesters should have a competitive unit cost and demonstrate promising material performance. This Research Topic will cover the current bio-production of representative polyesters through microbial factories, and discuss how frontier techniques can be applied to improve the productivity, reduce the cost of downstream separation process, and explore new biopolyesters with promising characteristics. In addition, this Research Topic will present the recent trends in the microbial production of aliphatic and aromatic building blocks (monomers) from renewable biomass, which can be applied as drop-in chemicals in the production of bio-derived polyesters.
This Research Topic welcomes Original Research and Review articles on the following areas:
• Biotechnological strategies for the improved bio-production of polyhydroxyalkanoates
• Metabolic engineering for the microbial production of unnatural biopolyesters (e.g. aromatic polyesters and lactic acid containing polyesters)
• Advanced techniques in the separation and purification of intracellular biopolyesters
• Microbial production of building blocks (lactic acid, succinic acid, 1,4-butanediol, 1,3-propanediol, terephthalic acid and other monomers) for commercial polyesters
To compete with synthetic polyesters, biopolyesters should have a competitive unit cost and demonstrate promising material performance. This Research Topic will cover the current bio-production of representative polyesters through microbial factories, and discuss how frontier techniques can be applied to improve the productivity, reduce the cost of downstream separation process, and explore new biopolyesters with promising characteristics. In addition, this Research Topic will present the recent trends in the microbial production of aliphatic and aromatic building blocks (monomers) from renewable biomass, which can be applied as drop-in chemicals in the production of bio-derived polyesters.
This Research Topic welcomes Original Research and Review articles on the following areas:
• Biotechnological strategies for the improved bio-production of polyhydroxyalkanoates
• Metabolic engineering for the microbial production of unnatural biopolyesters (e.g. aromatic polyesters and lactic acid containing polyesters)
• Advanced techniques in the separation and purification of intracellular biopolyesters
• Microbial production of building blocks (lactic acid, succinic acid, 1,4-butanediol, 1,3-propanediol, terephthalic acid and other monomers) for commercial polyesters
Keywords: Biopolyesters, Microbial Production, Bioengineering, Biotechnology, Bioprocess Optimization
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.
