Intelligent and fine regulation of microbial cell factory based on riboswitches

Construction of the microbial cell factory is one of the developmental directions of current green chemical industry. The microbial cell factory is a kind of recombined microorganism and its metabolic and regulatory pathways have been reconstructed by metabolic engineering and synthetic biology to synthetic new compounds or to improve the yield of target production. The microbial metabolic pathway is regulated by two points: environment and genetic information. The cell maintains its homeostasis by global transcription factors, messenger molecules and feedback inhibition when the circumstance is changed. Meanwhile, the cell is affected by its own genetic circulate through transcription, translation and post-translational modification to regulate the expression of target gene. The riboswitches are RNA elements which change their conformation when bind to specific ligands such as ions, sugar derivatives, amino acids, nucleic acid derivatives and coenzymes to regulate the process of transcription, translation and splicing of mRNA. The riboswitches are natural biosensors and bioeffectors which can be designed as the intelligent molecular tools to fine regulate microbial cell factories. Using riboswitches in the microbial cell factory can extend the application in the field of chemical, pharmaceutical, environmental protection and food production.