Natural rubber is a kind of indispensable biopolymers with great use and strategic importance in human society. However, its production relies almost exclusively on rubber-producing plants Hevea brasiliensis, which have high requirements for growth conditions, and the mechanism of natural rubber biosynthesis remains largely unknown. In the past two decades, details of the rubber chain polymerization and proteins involved in natural rubber biosynthesis have been investigated intensively. Meanwhile, omics and other advanced biotechnologies bring new insight into rubber production and development of new rubber-producing plants. This review summarizes the achievements of the past two decades in understanding the biosynthesis of natural rubber, especially the massive information obtained from the omics analyses. Possibilities of natural rubber biosynthesis in vitro or in genetically engineered microorganisms are also discussed.

Styrene is a versatile commodity petrochemical used as a monomer building-block for the synthesis of many useful polymers. Although achievements have been made on styrene biosynthesis in microorganisms, several bottleneck problems limit factors for further improvement in styrene production. A two-step styrene biosynthesis pathway was developed and introduced into Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). Systematic optimization of styrene biosynthesis, such as enzyme screening, codon and plasmid optimization, metabolic flow balance, and in situ fermentation was performed. Candidate isoenzymes of the rate-limiting enzyme phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) were screened from Arabidopsis thaliana (AtPAL2), Fagopyrum tataricum (FtPAL), Petroselinum crispum (PcPAL), and Artemisia annua (AaPAL). After codon optimization, AtPAL2 was found to be the most effective one, and the engineered strain was able to produce 55 mg/L styrene. Subsequently, plasmid optimization was performed, which improved styrene production to 103 mg/L. In addition, two upstream shikimate pathway genes, aroF and pheA, were overexpressed in the engineered strain, which resulted in styrene production of 210 mg/L. Subsequently, combined overexpression of tktA and ppsA increased styrene production to 275 mg/L. Finally, in situ product removal was used to ease the burden of end-product toxicity. By using isopropyl myristate as a solvent, styrene production reached a final titer of 350 mg/L after 48 h of shake-flask fermentation, representing a 636% improvement, which compared with that achieved in the original strain. This present study achieved the highest titer of de novo production of styrene in E. coli at shake-flask fermentation level. These results obtained provided new insights for the development of microbial production of styrene in a sustainable and environment friendly manner.

Exopolysaccharides produced by edible microorganisms exhibit excellent constructive physicochemical and significant biological activity, which provide advantages for the food or pharmaceutical industries. Two novel exopolysaccharides produced by Debaryomyces hansenii DH-1 were characterized, named S1 and S2, respectively. S1, with a molecular weight of 34.594 kDa, primarily consisted of mannose and glucose in a molar ratio of 12.19:1.00, which contained a backbone fragment of α-D-Manp-(1→4)-α-D-Manp-(1→2)-α-D-Glcp-(1→3)-α-D-Manp-(1→3)-β-D-Glcp-(1→4)-β-D-Manp-(1→. S2, with a molecular weight of 24.657 kDa, was mainly composed of mannose and galactose in a molar ratio of 4.00:1.00, which had a backbone fragment of α-D-Manp-(1→6)-β-D-Manp-(1→2)-α-D-Manp-(1→4)-α-D-Galp-(1→3)-β-D-Manp-(1→6)-α-D-Manp-(1→. Both S1 and S2 exhibited good thermal stability and potent hydroxyl radical scavenging activity, with ~98%. Moreover, S1 possessed an additional strong iron-reducing capacity. In vitro antitumor assays showed that S1 and S2 significantly inhibited the proliferation of Hela, HepG2, and PC-9 cancer cells. Moreover, PC-9 was more sensitive to S1 compared with S2. The above results indicate that S1 and S2 have great potential to be utilized as natural antioxidants and candidates for cancer treatment in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Structural materials represent the future development direction for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials, enabling the effective integration of multiple functions into a single material. Nonetheless, the traditional assembly processes remain a significant challenge in coordinating the mechanical properties and functionality of structural materials. In this study, we introduce a biological synthesis method for fabricating multilayered electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials using bacterial cellulose (BC), which are developed by entangling AgNWs, CNT, and Fe₃O₄ with continuously secreted cellulose nanofibers during in situ fermentation. The BC/AgNWs and BC/CNT/Fe₃O₄ composites could function as the reflection and absorption layers for electromagnetic waves, respectively, thereby simultaneously achieving superior mechanical performance and electromagnetic wave absorption capabilities. Benefiting from the biosynthesis strategy, the tensile strength of the BC/AgNWs/CNT/Fe₃O₄ multilayer film reached 327 MPa, which is higher than that of almost all previously reported multilayer electromagnetic shielding materials. Meanwhile, multilayer structural design improves impedance matching, contributing to the high EMI shielding performance (69.2 dB) and high absorption effectiveness ratio (83.1%). This study presents a novel strategy for producing multilayer structural materials through in situ biosynthesis, demonstrating significant utility in the field of stealth technology and electromagnetic interference protection for electronic packaging materials.