Bacterial microcompartments moving into a synthetic biological world

► Introduction to bacterial microcompartments, including carboxysomes and metabolosomes. ► Structure of the shell components of the bacterial microcompartment. ► Engineering of the metabolosome. Bacterial microcompartments are proteinaceous organelles that are found in a broad range of bacteria. They are composed of an outer protein shell that encases a specific metabolic process. Examples include the carboxysome, which houses enzymes associated with carbon fixation, and the propanediol metabolosome, which contains enzymes linked with the catabolism of propanediol to propionic acid. In this article the molecular structure of bacterial microcompartments is examined and the potential to engineer these intriguing organelles for biotechnological applications is explored.