Halophiles as Chassis for Bioproduction

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Industrial biotechnology aims to solve the challenges of petroleum‐based production using microorganisms as catalysts. However, current industrial biotechnology suffers from high energy and fresh water consumption as well as difficult downstream purification. In addition, most industrial microorganisms are not resistant to other microbial contaminations, and this seriously compromises process effectiveness and the economy. The recently proposed “next‐generation industrial biotechnology” employs contamination resistant microorganisms, including alkaliphilic, acidophilic, thermophilic or halophilic bacteria, etc., for bioproduction. The most successful example is the use of halophilic bacteria as chassis for the production of chemicals, proteins, and biopolymers. This review summarizes some of the most recent studies to engineer the halophilic chassis <jats:italic>Halomonas</jats:italic> spp. for the production of chemicals, proteins, and several biopolyesters such as poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate), copolymers of 3‐hydroxybutyrate and 3‐hydroxyvalerate, and copolymers of 3‐hydroxybutyrate and 4‐hydroxybutyrate. The <jats:italic>Halomonas</jats:italic> chassis is also successfully engineered to change its morphology from short bars to long fibers and large spheres for convenient gravity separation. This simplifies the bioprocessing.</jats:p>