The production of fuels and other valuable chemicals via biological routes has gained significant attention during last decades. Cyanobacteria are prokaryotes that convert solar energy to chemical compounds in vivo in direct processes. Intensive studies have been carried out with the aim of engineering cyanobacteria as microfactories for solar fuel and chemical production. Engineered strains of photosynthetic cyanobacteria can produce different compounds on a proof-of-concept level, but few products show titers comparable with those achieved in heterotrophic organisms. Efficient genetic engineering tools and metabolic modeling can accelerate the development of solar fuel and chemical production in cyanobacteria. This review addresses the most recent approaches to produce solar fuels and chemicals in engineered cyanobacteria with a focus on acetyl-CoA-dependent products.

在过去的几十年里，通过生物途径生产燃料和其他有价值的化学品受到了极大的关注。蓝藻是原核生物，可在体内将太阳能转化为化合物在直接过程中。已经进行了深入研究，目的是将蓝藻工程化为太阳能燃料和化学品生产的微型工厂。光合蓝藻的工程菌株可以在概念验证水平上产生不同的化合物，但很少有产品显示出与异养生物中达到的效价相当的效价。高效的基因工程工具和代谢建模可以加速太阳能燃料的开发和蓝藻中的化学品生产。本综述讨论了在工程蓝藻中生产太阳能燃料和化学品的最新方法，重点是依赖乙酰辅酶 A 的产品。