Metabolic engineering as a tool for biosurfactant production by microorganisms

Abstract

Biosurfactants produced by microorganisms are products with excellent physicochemical properties in addition to being produced from renewable sources and presenting low toxicity and environmental compatibility. Despite their advantages, they are still not widely produced on an industrial scale, due to the high production costs. Metabolic engineering tools have contributed to bypassing this hurdle in different ways, such as the metabolic flux deviation or heterologous expression of genes associated with the synthesis of these compounds. This chapter deals with different strategies of metabolic engineering, which can support the establishment of biosurfactants on the market.