Towards biobased industry: acetate as a promising feedstock to enhance the potential of microbial cell factories

A broad range of different chemical and pharmaceutical compounds have been produced in microbial cell factories. To compete with traditional crude oil based production processes, the use of complex alternative raw materials such as lignocellulosic biomass, waste streams and utilization of CO2 in gas fermentations has been suggested. All of these streams contain acetate, a cheap and potentially interesting carbon source for microbial production processes. Acetate (co-)utilization remains challenging, which is the reason for extensive research on the use of acetate for the production of value-added compounds. For industrial implementation of microbial conversion processes using acetate as a feedstock gaining a deeper insight into acetate metabolism of microorganisms is essential. Systems level analyses and manipulation of potential host organisms should be applied to achieve full utilization of this prospective substrate.