Anaerobic bacterial gas fermentation gains broad interest in various scientific, social, and industrial fields. This microbial process is carried out by a specific group of bacterial strains called acetogens. All these strains employ the Wood–Ljungdahl pathway but they belong to different taxonomic groups. Here we provide an overview of the metabolism of acetogens and naturally occurring products. Characteristics of 61 strains were summarized and selected acetogens described in detail. Acetobacterium woodii, Clostridium ljungdahlii, and Moorella thermoacetica serve as model organisms. Results of approaches such as genome-scale modeling, proteomics, and transcriptomics are discussed. Metabolic engineering of acetogens can be used to expand the product portfolio to platform chemicals and to study different aspects of cell physiology. Moreover, the fermentation of gases requires specific reactor configurations and the development of the respective technology, which can be used for an industrial application. Even though the overall process will have a positive effect on climate, since waste and greenhouse gases could be converted into commodity chemicals, some legislative barriers exist, which hamper successful exploitation of this technology.

厌氧细菌气体发酵在各种科学，社会和工业领域中引起了广泛的兴趣。这种微生物过程是由一组称为产乙酸菌的特定细菌菌株进行的。所有这些菌株都采用Wood–Ljungdahl途径，但它们属于不同的分类学类别。在这里，我们提供了对乙素和天然产物代谢的概述。总结了61个菌株的特征，并详细描述了所选择的产乙酸素。伍氏醋酸杆菌醋酸杆菌，扬氏梭菌和穆尔氏菌热乙酸充当模型生物。讨论了诸如基因组规模建模，蛋白质组学和转录组学等方法的结果。乙酸原素的代谢工程可用于将产品组合扩展至平台化学品，并研究细胞生理学的不同方面。而且，气体的发酵需要特定的反应器配置和相应技术的发展，其可以用于工业应用。尽管整个过程将对气候产生积极影响，但由于废物和温室气体可以转化为日用化学品，因此仍然存在一些立法障碍，阻碍了这项技术的成功开发。