Emerging Areas in Bioengineering

Chapter 17Genome Editing Tools for Escherichia coli and Their Application in Metabolic Engineering and Synthetic Biology

Chandran Sathesh-Prabu and Sung K. Lee

17.1 Introduction

In the past few decades, random mutagenesis has been applied for strain improvement by means of chemical mutagens [1], UV radiation [2], and transposon mutagenesis [3], all of which generate arbitrary mutations. The disadvantages of this approach include unwanted genomic mutations, lower probability of obtaining the desired engineered strain, potential growth hindrance, by-product formation, unpredictable phenotypes, irrecoverable changes, and inability to undertake subsequent strain improvement [4]. In recent years, reverse genetic approaches have materialized, wherein ...