Advances and prospects of Bacillus subtilis cellular factories: From rational design to industrial applications

• Published in: Metabolic engineering Vol. 50; pp. 109 - 121
• Main Authors: Gu, Yang, Xu, Xianhao, Wu, Yaokang, Niu, Tengfei, Liu, Yanfeng, Li, Jianghua, Du, Guocheng, Liu, Long
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Belgium Elsevier Inc 01.11.2018
• Subjects: Bacillus subtilis; carbon; factories; fermentation; genetic engineering; Gram-positive bacteria; hosts; Industrial applications; Metabolic engineering; Microbial cell factories; recombinant proteins; Synthetic biology; Metabolic engineering; Industrial applications; Synthetic biology; Microbial cell factories; Bacillus subtilis
• ISSN: 1096-7176; 1096-7184; 1096-7184
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ymben.2018.05.006

Bacillus subtilis is the most characterized gram-positive bacterium that has significant attributes, such as growing well on cheap carbon sources, possessing clear inherited backgrounds, having mature genetic manipulation methods, and exhibiting robustness in large-scale fermentations. Till date, B. subtilis has been identified as attractive hosts for the production of recombinant proteins and chemicals. By applying various systems and synthetic biology tools, the productivity features of B. subtilis can be thoroughly analyzed and further optimized via metabolic engineering. In the present review, we discussed why B. subtilis is the primary organisms used for metabolic engineering and industrial applications. Additionally, we summarized the recent advances in systems and synthetic biology, engineering strategies for improving cellular performances, and metabolic engineering applications of B. subtilis. In particular, we proposed emerging opportunities and essential strategies to enable the successful development of B. subtilis as microbial cell factories. •The product portfolio of B. subtilis is expanding from proteins to bio-chemicals.•Reason of B. subtilis as a primary strain for metabolic engineering was discussed.•Recent advances in basic studies and applications of B. subtilis were summarized.•Essential strategies of developing B. subtilis to be cell factories were proposed.