Abstract Succinic Acid (SA) is an essential platform chemical that finds wide use in the food, bioplastics, and pharmaceutical industries. Due to sustainability and environmental concerns, there has been an increasing transition from the old petrochemical mode of production toward biological approaches. The importance of bio-based SA in the worldwide market is investigated in this review, which also looks at genetic engineering strategies, microbial production processes, and the function of altered strains. The utilization of lignocellulosic biomass and other inexpensive feedstocks, along with advancements in metabolic pathways, has transformed the manufacture of SA. The review provides insights into where strain optimization and genetic alterations have conquered significant restrictions by highlighting aspects that affect productivity, yield, and downstream processing. Important issues, like production costs and feedstock variability, are addressed in industrial scaling. The paper concludes by exploring the prospects for SA production in the future and emphasizing developments that address sustainability, economic feasibility, and the possibility of replacing counterparts made of petrochemicals. This review aims to provide readers with a thorough grasp of current developments and potential paths for SA production using biotechnology. Graphical abstract
Nagime et al. (2025) studied this question.