Exploring and Accessing Plant Natural Product Biosynthesis in Engineered Microbial Hosts

Over-expression of a cyanobacterial gene for 1-deoxy-d-xylulose-5-phosphate synthase in the chloroplast of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii perturbs chlorophyll: carotenoid ratios

“…Many terpenoids are of plant origin, and most of them are functionally important in various aspects of cell metabolism, including photosynthesis, membrane permeability and fluidity, respiration, and regulation of growth and development. Another class of plant terpenoids – often referred to as secondary metabolites – is more specialised and limited to certain plant families or genera with functions in defence against plant pathogens, abiotic stress conditions or the attraction of pollinators ( Marasco and Schmidt-Dannert, 2008 , Vranová et al, 2012 ). Due to their functional diversity, these secondary metabolic terpenoids are of great industrial interest, largely in areas such as pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, flavours and fragrance additives.…”