Gene Editing Chemistry: The Next Revolutionary Track in Industrial Manufacturing

Since the dawn of industrialization, the chemical industry has gone through two major developmental stages: fossil refining and artificial chemical synthesis. It has long relied on high temperature, high pressure, aggressive catalysts, and complex reactor systems to produce various chemicals, materials, and energy products. Traditional chemistry forcibly reshapes molecular structures through violent reactions—processes that are energy-intensive, highly polluting, and constrained in reaction pathways. Faced with the demands for fine molecular structures, high-end specialty materials, and green, low-carbon development, it has long since hit a technological bottleneck. Traditional bio-based chemistry, despite its green fermentation processes, remains dependent on the inherent metabolic capabilities of natural microorganisms, capable only of replicating a small number of substances already existing in nature. Its scope for modification is limited, its product range narrow, and it cannot truly replace the mainstream chemical industry.

At this critical juncture of industrial transformation, Gene Editing Chemistry will emerge as the third-generation manufacturing paradigm—distinct from traditional bio-based chemistry and capable of leading the next iteration of human industrial civilization. The core logic of gene editing chemistry completely overturns past production models. It no longer relies on existing biological fermentation or on chemically brute-forcing molecular structures. Instead, it takes the target chemical molecular structure as the sole starting point, then reverse-engineers life, precisely edits genes, and customizes dedicated biological cell factories. Whatever chemical compounds humanity needs, we can rewrite the gene sequences and metabolic pathways of organisms accordingly, allowing deeply gene-edited microorganisms and cells to automatically synthesize—under mild, ambient conditions of normal temperature and pressure—both essential natural chemicals and entirely new specialty materials that do not exist in nature.

Gene editing chemistry is fundamentally different from traditional bio-based chemistry, and the two must not be confused. Traditional bio-based chemistry works with nature, utilizing existing life. Gene editing chemistry reshapes life, defining manufacturing anew. Traditional bio-based chemistry can only passively harness the inherent capabilities of natural strains, making small-scale improvements to produce simple natural products. Gene editing chemistry, through whole-genome reconstruction, metabolic network rewiring, and the customization of synthetic genetic circuits, makes life fully serve the demands of chemical production. The living organism is no longer a natural species but a precisely controllable, on-demand customizable living chemical reactor.