Filamentous fungi are remarkable organisms that are naturally specialized in
deconstructing plant biomass. This feature explains their tremendous potential for
biofuel production from renewable sources. However, organisms from this group need
to be engineered to make them compatible with standard operating procedures of the
industry and to optimize their applications in the field of biotechnology. Here, we
discuss the development of new tools and approaches for the engineering of fungi for
biotech applications such as the production of biofuels. These tools include not only
next-generation “omics” tools to obtain deeper insight into the molecular biology of
filamentous fungi, but also novel engineering approaches for the genetic modification of
these organisms to generate highly efficient cell factories. The first set of tools, in
framework of Systems Biology, targets understanding how these fascinating organisms
are able to integrate multi-level environmental information in order to coordinate gene
expression and protein production in response to changing conditions. The second
approach, in the context of Synthetic Biology, provides physical and conceptual tools
that allow the genetic modification of fungi, mainly through the construction of
synthetic promoters for the expression of heterologous genes in these organisms and
either expanding their capabilities or reshaping their regulatory networks. Finally, we
discuss some new directions that have been initiated or should be addressed in future
work in order to fill gaps still existing in the field.
Keywords: Fungal Engineering, Regulatory Networks, Synthetic Biology,
Synthetic Promoters, Systems Biology.
