Sustainable Assessment on Using Bacterial Platform to Produce High-Added-Value Products from Berries through Metabolic Engineering

Abstract

Berries are rich resources of secondary metabolites, particularly known for diverse phenolic compounds. These highly bioactive compounds can be developed into novel nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products, as well as high-added-value natural food additives. Compounds extracted from berries have, e.g., been used as colorants (e.g., anthocyanins) [1]. Meanwhile, some phenolics present in berries are of high added value due to their potential to develop into anticancer drugs (e.g., phenolic acids, flavonols, and flavanols) [2]. The antioxidation properties from berries also make them attractive research subject to develop more efficient nutraceutical products than the current crude extraction formulas (e.g., NutriPhy^® Bilberry 100 from Chr. Hansen) [3, 4]. To exploit the full potential of the phenolic molecules from berries, a number of research projects have been conducted ranging from identification of bioactive compounds and elucidation of metabolic pathways (metabolic engineering them into suitable industrial production host cells) to eventually commercial production [3, 5–12].