Design and analysis of metabolic pathways supporting formatotrophic growth for electricity-dependent cultivation of microbes

► Engineering formatotrophic growth paves the way for an efficient electrosynthesis ► Formatotrophism can be supported by autotrophic or methylotrophic growth ► Various physicochemical criteria enable pathway analysis and comparison ► The reductive glycine pathway is most promising to support formatotrophism ► The time is ripe to construct an “instruction book” for metabolic engineering