Introduction to Systems and Synthetic Biology in Hydrocarbon Microbiology: Applications

Abstract

Contemporary Microbial Biotechnology is experiencing a rapid transition between being a mostly trial-anderror endeavour towards becoming a quantitative and predictable branch of contemporary research. A key ingredient of this shift involves the adoption of Systems and Synthetic Biology approaches for either revisiting typical themes (e.g. bioproduction of added-value molecules) or to develop altogether new ones (such as engineering of sensor/actuator devices). The first wave of goods reaching the biotechnological sector largely comes from metabolic engineering of microorganisms for biofuels, fine chemicals and high-added value molecules. But much more is still to come by applying electric and industrial engineering principles to biological systems as well as by learning from the way natural evolution has solved apparently intractable design problems.