Metabolic Engineering Strategy for Bacillus subtilis Producing MK-7.
- 2025-12-03
- Foods (Basel, Switzerland) 14(23)
- Shiying Wu
- Xiuwen Sun
- Tingwen Fan
- Fei Lin
- Yuan Chi
- Huaiyi Yang
- Chunhui Zhao
- PubMed: 41376087
- DOI: 10.3390/foods14234150
Study Design
- Type
- Review
Menaquinone-7 (MK-7) is an important bioactive form of vitamin K2 that inhibits vascular calcification, maintains systemic calcium homeostasis, demonstrates high bioavailability, and possesses an extended plasma half-life. Bacillus subtilis naturally possesses the complete biosynthetic pathway for MK-7, benefits from a well-characterized genetic background and advanced genome-editing tools, and is regarded as a safe and efficient microbial chassis for industrial MK-7 fermentation. This review summarizes recent advances in the metabolic engineering of Bacillus subtilis for high-level MK-7 production, highlights pathway analyses, and discusses engineering strategies targeting four key modules: substrate utilization, secretion, spore/biofilm formation, and oxidative-stress defense.