Metabolic Engineering and Genetic Manipulation of Novel Biomass Species for Biofuel Production

Abstract Agricultural biomass offers one of the best platforms as an energy resource and has the potential to contribute toward current fuel demands. Plant- or algae-based biomass is relatively cheap, renewable, and abundant. It can be converted to fermentable sugars for the production of bioethanol. However, the pretreatment process involving the conversion of biomass into bioethanol is intricate and expensive. The current research goal is to increase or manipulate carbohydrates, lipids, hydrocarbons, or other energy-rich compounds in these organisms through genetic engineering. Recent advances in genomics, metabolomics, and synthetic biology have provided new tools for engineering plants and algae as efficient biomass sources. Metabolic engineering provides new opportunities to improve biofuel production by modifying the carbon metabolism pathways in these biomass sources, concurrently reducing cost and replacing petroleum-based fuels. This chapter discusses the current research efforts of metabolic engineering in improving plant and algae biomass as platforms for biofuel production.