Extending the biosynthetic repertoires of cyanobacteria and chloroplasts.

Chloroplasts in plants and algae and photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria are emerging hosts for sustainable production of valuable biochemicals, using only inorganic nutrients, water, CO2 and light as inputs. In the past decade, many bioengineering efforts have focused on metabolic engineering and synthetic biology in the chloroplast or in cyanobacteria for the production of fuels, chemicals and complex, high-value bioactive molecules. Biosynthesis of all these compounds can be performed in photosynthetic organelles/organisms by heterologous expression of the appropriate pathways, but this requires optimization of carbon flux and reducing power, and a thorough understanding of regulatory pathways.