Haloarchaea as Promising Chassis to Green Chemistry

Abstract

Climate change and the scarcity of primary resources are driving the development of new, more renewable and environmentally friendly industrial processes. As part of this green chemistry approach, extremozymes (extreme microbial enzymes) can be used to replace all or part of the chemical synthesis stages of traditional industrial processes. At present, the production of these enzymes is limited by the cellular chassis available. The production of a large number of extremozymes requires extremophilic cellular chassis, which are not available. This is particularly true of halophilic extremozymes. The aim of this review is to present the current potential and challenges associated with the development of a haloarchaea-based cellular chassis. By overcoming the major obstacle of the limited number of genetic tools, it will be possible to propose a robust cellular chassis for the production of functional halophilic enzymes that can participate in the industrial transition of many sectors.