Synthetic metabolism for biohalogenation

[Display omitted] •Halogenation is a powerful strategy to tune physicochemical features of organic molecules.•Synthetic metabolism can be tailored for the incorporation of halogen atoms.•Growth-coupled schemes can be harnessed to establish biohalogenation.•Cell factories programmed for halometabolite synthesis expand bioproduction. The pressing need for novel bioproduction approaches faces a limitation in the number and type of molecules accessed through synthetic biology. Halogenation is widely used for tuning physicochemical properties of molecules and polymers, but traditional halogenation chemistry often lacks specificity and generates harmful by-products. Here, we pose that deploying synthetic metabolism tailored for biohalogenation represents an unique opportunity towards economically attractive and environmentally friendly organohalide production. On this background, we discuss growth-coupled selection of functional metabolic modules that harness the rich repertoire of biosynthetic and biodegradation capabilities of environmental bacteria for in vivo biohalogenation. By rationally combining these approaches, the chemical landscape of living cells can accommodate bioproduction of added-value organohalides which, as of today, are obtained by traditional chemistry.