Morphology engineering of bacteria for bio-production

•“Morphology engineering” can be used to change bacterial cell shapes.•Manipulating division genes changes bacteria from rods to fibers to large spheres.•Morphology engineered bacteria grow more and denser with more inclusion body storage.•Morphology engineered bacteria can be easily separated via gravity from culture broth.•Morphology engineering is just starting to show its promises.

The concept of “morphology engineering” is proposed here. There are many genes involved in maintaining the bacterial shapes. The manipulations of these genes allow us to change the bacterial shapes from rods to fibers or to small spheres or large spheres. The advantages of morphology engineered bacteria for bio-production including accelerated growth, high cell density, simplification of downstream separation, enlarged space for more inclusion body accumulation and reduction on the cost of bio-production, have recently started to be exploited. So far only a few shape related genes have been manipulated for bioprocess benefits, many more genes are to be exploited for various cell morphologies. The limits of bacterial lengths and diameters may depend on how we manipulate relevant genes. Over time, these limits can be broken to enhance bioprocess competitiveness including improvements on the effectiveness of up- and downstream bioprocessing. Morphology engineering is just starting to show its promises.