Industrial production of glycerol by yeast, which began during WWI in the so-called Neuberg fermentation, was the first example of metabolic engineering. However, this process, based on bisulfite addition to fermentation liquid, has many drawbacks and was replaced by other methods of glycerol production. Osmotolerant yeasts and other microorganisms that do not require addition of bisulfite to steer cellular metabolism towards glycerol synthesis have been discovered or engineered. Because the glycerol market is expected to reach 5 billion US$ by 2024, microbial fermentation may again become a promising way to produce glycerol. This review summarizes some problems and perspectives on the production of glycerol by natural or engineered eukaryotic and prokaryotic microorganisms.

酵母的甘油工业化生产是代谢工程的第一个例子，酵母在所谓的Neuberg发酵的第一次世界大战期间开始生产。然而，基于向发酵液中添加亚硫酸氢盐的该方法具有许多缺点，并且被其他生产甘油的方法所代替。已经发现或设计了不需要添加亚硫酸氢盐以使细胞代谢转向甘油合成的耐渗透性酵母和其他微生物。由于预计到2024年甘油市场将达到50亿美元，因此微生物发酵可能再次成为生产甘油的有前途的方式。这篇综述总结了天然或工程化的真核和原核微生物生产甘油的一些问题和观点。