Research progress on biosynthesis of erythritol and multi-dimensional optimization of production strategies

Erythritol, as a new type of natural sweetener, has been widely used in food, medical, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and other fields due to its unique physical and chemical properties and physiological functions. In recent years, with the continuous development of strategies such as synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, omics-based systems biology and high-throughput screening technology, people’s understanding of the erythritol biosynthesis pathway has gradually deepened, and microbial cell factories with independent modification capabilities have been successfully constructed. In this review, the cheap feedstocks for erythritol synthesis are introduced in detail, the environmental factors affecting the synthesis of erythritol and its regulatory mechanism are described, and the tools and strategies of metabolic engineering involved in erythritol synthesis are summarized. In addition, the study of erythritol derivatives is helpful in expanding its application field. Finally, the challenges that hinder the effective production of erythritol are discussed, which lay a foundation for the green, efficient and sustainable production of erythritol in the future and breaking through the bottleneck of production.