Recent Development in Metabolic Engineering for Production of Succinic Acid by Escherichia coli

Succinic acid is an important chemical material with a big market. Its production by the method of microorganism fermentation can release the dependence of petroleum by the chemical synthesis method. Metabolic engineering made the production of succinic acid with recombinant Escherichia coli become possible, and much was done in the fermentation procession by metabolic engineering. However, the productivity of succinic acid fermentation by E. coli was still not high enough, and other organic acids were also found in the end products. So it seemed not very economical to the industrialization. In the post-genomic era, metabolic engineering is based on systems biology. More rational modification on E. coli will be achieved. In this paper, advances in metabolic engineering for improving succinic acid production by E. coli were reviewed, including the regulation of key enzymes and reconstruction of biosynthesis pathway of succinic acid. In addition, the prospect of succinic acid production was also discussed.