Combinatorial Biosynthesis for the Engineering of Novel Fungal Natural Products

Overview

Journal Commun Chem

Publisher Springer Nature

Specialty Chemistry

Date 2024 Apr 18

PMID 38637654

Authors

Elizabeth Skellam

Sanjeevan Rajendran

Lei Li

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Natural products are small molecules synthesized by fungi, bacteria and plants, which historically have had a profound effect on human health and quality of life. These natural products have evolved over millions of years resulting in specific biological functions that may be of interest for pharmaceutical, agricultural, or nutraceutical use. Often natural products need to be structurally modified to make them suitable for specific applications. Combinatorial biosynthesis is a method to alter the composition of enzymes needed to synthesize a specific natural product resulting in structurally diversified molecules. In this review we discuss different approaches for combinatorial biosynthesis of natural products via engineering fungal enzymes and biosynthetic pathways. We highlight the biosynthetic knowledge gained from these studies and provide examples of new-to-nature bioactive molecules, including molecules synthesized using combinations of fungal and non-fungal enzymes.

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