Application of CRISPR technology to the high production of biopolymers

CRISPR/Cas9 technology has had a great impact on biology, medicine, microbiology, and food microbiology. In particular, the highly sophisticated base pair–level gene editing technique enabled more precise manipulation of genes to allow for the insertion or removal of several genes quicker and easier than conventional DNA manipulation techniques. Additionally, the ease of deletion of gene targets in polyploidy organisms made a major improvement on research in the life sciences across a variety of eukaryotic systems. Ultimately, CRISPR/Cas9 will promote the development of the biological sciences for a variety of organisms and will facilitate the production of numerous industrially relevant substances, particularly biopolymers. This chapter covers microbial metabolic engineering via the CRISPR/Cas9 technology and focuses on the application of the CRIPSR/Cas9 technology to create various types of biopolymers, including exopolysaccharides, produced from food microorganisms.