Biological production of muconic acid from renewable biomass: advances in metabolic engineering and lignin valorisation
10 affiliations
- 1Magan Centre for Applied Mycology, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cranfield University, Cranfield, MK43 0AL UK
- 2Department of Engineering Technology, Cullen College of Engineering, University of Houston, Sugarland, TX 77479 USA
- 3Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
- 4Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India
- 5Department of Biotechnology, School of Bioengineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu 603203 India
- 6Biomass Conversion and Bioproducts Laboratory, Centre for Bioenergy, School of Chemical & Biotechnology, SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur, India
- 7Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Kandi, Sangareddy, Telangana 502284 India
- 8Yeast Biofuel Group, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, India
- 9Institute of Chemistry, Bioscience, and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, PO Box 8600 Forus, 4036, Norway
- 10School of Biotechnology, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin, D09 K20V Ireland
Abstract
Muconic acid (MA) is characterized by two reactive carboxylic acid groups and two conjugated double bonds, making it a highly valuable industrial platform chemical with significant market potential. It serves as a key intermediate in the manufacturing of important commercial chemical products such as adipic acid and terephthalic acid. The finite fossil-based resources and climate issues due to CO2 emission have necessitated the microbial routes for the production of MA, a potential alternative to fossil-based synthesis. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent progress in the biological production of MA. The article begins with an outline of the present catalytic routes and known biochemical pathways for MA biosynthesis. The review then focuses on metabolic engineering strategies employed in various microbial hosts including Escherichia coli, Corynebacterium glutamicum, and Pseudomonas putida to enhance MA production from diverse feedstocks such as sugars, aromatic compounds, and lignin-derived substrates. Special attention is given to pathway optimization, host tolerance, and strategies enabling efficient conversion of lignin-derived intermediates within integrated biorefinery frameworks. Key challenges associated with scaling up bio-based MA production to industrial levels are discussed, along with potential strategies for developing robust and efficient microbial cell factories. The review concludes with future perspectives and recommendations to accelerate research progress and development in this field.
Graphical Abstract:
Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-026-03037-3.
Related
- Systems metabolic engineering of a plasmid-free Escherichia coli cell factory for high-level cytidine production
- Host-Specific Metabolic Engineering for Microbial Production of Fucosyllactoses.
- Editorial: Biosynthetic pathways and metabolic engineering of bioactive natural products from medicinal plants
- Complex systems in metabolic engineering
- ARCANE: ‘A Reprogrammable Circuit Architecture for Non-model Engineering’ enables sophisticated metabolic control in Yarrowia lipolytica
BibTeX
@article{kumar2026biological,
title = {{Biological production of muconic acid from renewable biomass: advances in metabolic engineering and lignin valorisation}},
author = {Vinod Kumar and Satish Kumar Ainala and Vivek Kumar Gaur and Samuel Jacob and Yuheng Lin and Ponnusami Venkatachalam and Sunil K. Maity and Naseem A. Gaur and Gopalakrishnan Kumar and Vijai Kumar Gupta},
journal = {Microbial Cell Factories},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1186/s12934-026-03037-3},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-026-03037-3},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Biological production of muconic acid from renewable biomass: advances in metabolic engineering and lignin valorisation
AU - Vinod Kumar
AU - Satish Kumar Ainala
AU - Vivek Kumar Gaur
AU - Samuel Jacob
AU - Yuheng Lin
AU - Ponnusami Venkatachalam
AU - Sunil K. Maity
AU - Naseem A. Gaur
AU - Gopalakrishnan Kumar
AU - Vijai Kumar Gupta
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/15
JO - Microbial Cell Factories
DO - 10.1186/s12934-026-03037-3
UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-026-03037-3
AB - Muconic acid (MA) is characterized by two reactive carboxylic acid groups and two conjugated double bonds, making it a highly valuable industrial platform chemical with significant market potential. It serves as a key intermediate in the manufacturing of important commercial chemical products such as adipic acid and terephthalic acid. The finite fossil-based resources and climate issues due to CO2 emission have necessitated the microbial routes for the production of MA, a potential alternative to fossil-based synthesis. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent progress in the biological production of MA. The article begins with an outline of the present catalytic routes and known biochemical pathways for MA biosynthesis. The review then focuses on metabolic engineering strategies employed in various microbial hosts including Escherichia coli, Corynebacterium glutamicum, and Pseudomonas putida to enhance MA production from diverse feedstocks such as sugars, aromatic compounds, and lignin-derived substrates. Special attention is given to pathway optimization, host tolerance, and strategies enabling efficient conversion of lignin-derived intermediates within integrated biorefinery frameworks. Key challenges associated with scaling up bio-based MA production to industrial levels are discussed, along with potential strategies for developing robust and efficient microbial cell factories. The review concludes with future perspectives and recommendations to accelerate research progress and development in this field. Graphical Abstract: Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-026-03037-3.
SN - 1475-2859
ER -