Revolutionizing Caffeic Acid Production: Advanced Microbial Metabolic Engineering and Synthetic Biology Approaches

Caffeic acid, a high-value natural phenolic compound synthesized through plant metabolism, plays a critical role in producing phenylpropanoid derivatives and serves as a direct precursor to several key phenolic acids. As a food additive and medicine, caffeic acid has garnered significant attention for its potential in various applications. Recent advances in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering have enabled its biosynthesis via microbial cell factories. This review summarizes five strategies for optimizing caffeic acid production: caffeic acid biosynthetic pathway, modification of metabolic pathway, systems biology and synthetic biology, cofactor engineering, and modular co-culture. However, caffeic acid production via microbial chassis faces bottlenecks such as limited precursor availability for biosynthesis, toxicity from metabolic intermediates, inefficient cofactor utilization, and over-reliance on conventional host microorganisms. Breaking through these bottlenecks by integrating the five strategies outlined is expected to further increase caffeic acid production.