Research progress on the pharmacological activity, biosynthetic pathways, and biosynthesis of crocins

• Zhongwei Hua,
• Nan Liu and
• Xiaohui Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 741–752, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.68

• , aiming to lay the foundation for the large-scale production of these valuable natural products by using engineered microbial cell factories. Keywords: biosynthetic pathway; crocetin; crocins; metabolic engineering; pharmacological activity; Introduction Crocins are hydrophilic apocarotenoids mainly

Genome mining in Trichoderma viride J1-030: discovery and identification of novel sesquiterpene synthase and its products

• Xiang Sun,
• You-Sheng Cai,
• Yujie Yuan,
• Guangkai Bian,
• Ziling Ye,
• Zixin Deng and
• Tiangang Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2052–2058, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.202

• . viride to date. Keywords: genome mining; metabolic engineering; natural products; sesquiterpene synthase; terpenes; Trichoderma viride J1-030; Introduction Terpenoids represent the most diverse group of natural products, with a wide distribution in microorganisms, plants, insects and various marine

• terpenoids have rarely been studied and the low concentrations of products under natural conditions have limited the pace of research in this field. Metabolic engineering makes the overproduction of different terpenoids from T. viride possible [21][24]. To increase the discovery efficiency of terpenoid

• products, heterologous expression of various sources of terpene synthases in Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a feasible approach [25][26]. In this study, a combination of genome mining and metabolic engineering was used for sesquiterpenoid discovery, utilizing farnesyl diphosphate

Cyclopropene derivatives of aminosugars for metabolic glycoengineering

• Jessica Hassenrück and
• Valentin Wittmann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 584–601, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.54

• Diels–Alder reaction; metabolic engineering; Introduction Carbohydrates are an important class of biological molecules involved in many fundamental biological processes [1]. An important tool to visualize glycoconjugates in vitro and in vivo is metabolic glycoengineering (MGE) [2][3][4]. In this

Back to the future: Why we need enzymology to build a synthetic metabolism of the future

• Tobias J. Erb

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 551–557, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.49

• analytical into a synthetic discipline. This is especially apparent in the field of metabolic engineering, where the concept of synthetic metabolism has been recently developed. Compared to classical metabolic engineering efforts, synthetic metabolism aims at creating novel metabolic networks in a rational

• to build synthetic metabolism. Here I discuss the current challenges and limitations in synthetic metabolic engineering and elucidate how modern day enzymology can help to build a synthetic metabolism of the future. Keywords: enzymes; in vitro biochemistry; metabolic engineering; synthetic biology

• systems has provided the intellectual as well as technological basis to create biological features that are new to nature. Review Classical metabolic engineering: Exploiting natural metabolic networks A fundamental feature of living systems is metabolism, which can be defined as the dynamic chemistry that

Grip on complexity in chemical reaction networks

• Albert S. Y. Wong and
• Wilhelm T. S. Huck

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1486–1497, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.147

• synthetic and systems biology as well as metabolic engineering [27]. We must now learn how to apply retrosynthesis to network motifs, and we believe chemistry offers a unique opportunity to the design of chemical reaction networks (CRNs) [28][29][30]. A major challenge for systems chemistry is to translate

Opportunities and challenges for the sustainable production of structurally complex diterpenoids in recombinant microbial systems

• Katarina Kemper,
• Max Hirte,
• Markus Reinbold,
• Monika Fuchs and
• Thomas Brück

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 845–854, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.85

• of highly functionalized compounds. Novel approaches discussed in this review include metabolic engineering as well as site-directed mutagenesis to expand the natural terpene landscape. Focusing mainly on the validation of successful integration of engineered biosynthetic pathways into optimized

• describing the metabolic engineering of a bacterial host. Precursor formation All terpenes derive from the ubiquitous central metabolites isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP) [24] (see Scheme 1). Interestingly, only two metabolic pathways (MEP and MEV) have been identified for

• localization of diterpene biosynthesis in the plastids [31]. Metabolic engineering of plants to produce diterpenes remains challenging due to the required direction of biosynthetic enzymes into the specific organelles [32] and feedback inhibition of the 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate synthase (DXS) that can

Learning from the unexpected in life and DNA self-assembly

• Jennifer M. Heemstra

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 2713–2720, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.292

• applications such as metabolic engineering. Bringing these technologies to the point that they are routine and broadly applicable will clearly involve significant advances in molecular and cellular biology. However, contributions from supramolecular chemistry will also be critical, as these will provide the

Coupled chemo(enzymatic) reactions in continuous flow

• Ruslan Yuryev,
• Simon Strompen and
• Andreas Liese

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2011, 7, 1449–1467, doi:10.3762/bjoc.7.169

• efficiency of the multistep synthesis of target compounds, due to the dissipation of intermediates in numerous side reactions. The amendment of continuous in vivo coupled-reaction processes by metabolic engineering [59] is a promising technology, which brings into play another crucial biological principle