Development of microbial cell factories for bio-refinery through synthetic bioengineering

► We review the current status of synthetic bioengineering in the yeast. ► We now need to identify promising targets for further engineering of yeast metabolism. ► Metabolic simulation, transcriptomics, and metabolomics are emerging technologies. ► Recombinant technologies are crucial for implementing metabolic designs. ► Genome synthesis will facilitate advances in synthetic bioengineering.