Biotechnological production of ectoine: current status and prospects

Ectoine is an important natural secondary metabolite in halophilic microorganisms. It protects cells against environmental stressors, such as salinity, freezing, drying, and high temperatures. Ectoine is widely used in medical, cosmetic, and other industries. Due to the commercial market demand of ectoine, halophilic microorganisms are the primary method for producing ectoine, which is produced using the industrial fermentation process “bacterial milking.” The method has some limitations, such as the high salt concentration fermentation, which is highly corrosive to the equipment, and this also increases the difficulty of downstream purification and causes high production costs. The ectoine synthesis gene cluster has been successfully heterologously expressed in industrial microorganisms, and the yield of ectoine was significantly increased and the cost was reduced. This review aims to summarize and update microbial production of ectoine using different microorganisms, environments, and metabolic engineering and fermentation strategies and provides important reference for the development and application of ectoine.