An Artificial Pathway for Isoprenoid Biosynthesis Decoupled from Native Hemiterpene Metabolism.

ABSTRACT: Isoprenoids are constructed in nature using hemiterpene building blocks that are biosynthesized from lengthy enzymatic pathways with little opportunity to deploy precursor-directed biosynthesis. Here, an artificial alcohol-dependent hemiterpene biosynthetic pathway was designed and coupled to several isoprenoid biosynthetic systems, affording lycopene and a prenylated tryptophan in robust yields. This approach affords a potential route to diverse non-natural hemiterpenes and by extension isoprenoids modified with non-natural chemical functionality. Accordingly, the prototype chemo-enzymatic pathway is a critical first step toward the construction of engineered microbial strains for bioconversion of simple scalable building blocks into complex isoprenoid scaffolds.

SUBMITTER: Lund S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6556385 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature