Harnessing electrical-to-biochemical conversion for microbial synthesis

Abstract

Electrical-to-biochemical conversion (E2BC) drives cell metabolism for biosynthesis and has become a promising way to realize green biomanufacturing. This review discusses the following aspects: 1. the natural E2BC processes and their underlying E2BC mechanism; 2. development of artificial E2BC for tunable microbial electrosynthesis; 3. design of electrobiochemical systems using self-powered, light-assisted, and nano-biohybrid approaches; 4. synthetic biology methods for efficient microbial electrosynthesis. This review also compares E2BC with electrocatalysis-biochemical conversion (EC2BC), as both strategies may lead to future carbon negative green biomanufacturing.