Recent advances in the elucidation of enzymatic function in natural product biosynthesis

Gao-Yi Tan; Zixin Deng; Tiangang Liu

doi:10.12688/f1000research.7187.2

Recent advances in the elucidation of enzymatic function in natural product biosynthesis

F1000Res. 2015 Dec 4:4:F1000 Faculty Rev-1399. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.7187.2. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Gao-Yi Tan¹, Zixin Deng², Tiangang Liu²

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Combinatorial Biosynthesis and Drug Discovery (Wuhan University), Ministry of Education, and Wuhan University School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan, China.
² Key Laboratory of Combinatorial Biosynthesis and Drug Discovery (Wuhan University), Ministry of Education, and Wuhan University School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan, China; Hubei Engineering Laboratory for Synthetic Microbiology, Wuhan Institute of Biotechnology, Wuhan, China.

Abstract

With the successful production of artemisinic acid in yeast, the promising potential of synthetic biology for natural product biosynthesis is now being realized. The recent total biosynthesis of opioids in microbes is considered to be another landmark in this field. The importance and significance of enzymes in natural product biosynthetic pathways have been re-emphasized by these advancements. Therefore, the characterization and elucidation of enzymatic function in natural product biosynthesis are undoubtedly fundamental for the development of new drugs and the heterologous biosynthesis of active natural products. Here, discoveries regarding enzymatic function in natural product biosynthesis over the past year are briefly reviewed.

Keywords: combinatorial biosynthesis; natural product biosynthesis; plant-derived drugs.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the National 973 Program of China (grants 2011CBA00800 and 2012CB721000), the National 863 Program of China (grant 2012AA02A701), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 31170096, 312220170, and 31500072), the Natural Science Foundation of HuBei Province (grant 2015CFB415), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant 2014M562052).