Metabolic engineering of Bacillus subtilis for terpenoid production

Abstract

Terpenoids are the largest group of small-molecule natural products, with more than 60,000 compounds made from isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and its isomer dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP). As the most diverse group of small-molecule natural products, terpenoids play an important role in the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic industries. For decades, Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) were extensively studied to biosynthesize terpenoids, because they are both fully amenable to genetic modifications and have vast molecular resources. On the other hand, our literature survey (20 years) revealed that terpenoids are naturally more widespread in Bacillales. In the mid-1990s, an inherent methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway was discovered in Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis). Since B. subtilis is a generally recognized as safe (GRAS) organism and has long been used for the industrial production of proteins, attempts to biosynthesize terpenoids in this bacterium have aroused much interest in the scientific community. This review discusses metabolic engineering of B. subtilis for terpenoid production, and encountered challenges will be discussed. We will summarize some major advances and outline future directions for exploiting the potential of B. subtilis as a desired “cell factory” to produce terpenoids.

Effectiveness of recombinant Escherichia coli for the production of (R)-(+)-perillyl alcohol 

“…anti-cancer drug has been limited by the costs associated with extracting the compound from its natural oil. Terpenes are produced by microorganisms and can be scaled-up to increase drug production [45]. Here, we used E.coli as a host and confirmed the feasibility of (R)-(+)-perillyl alcohol production.…”

Effectiveness of recombinant Escherichia coli on the production of (R)-(+)-perillyl alcohol

“…anti-cancer drug has been limited by the costs associated with extracting the compound from its natural oil. Terpenes are produced by microorganisms and can be scaled-up to increase drug production [45]. We used E.coli as a host and confirmed the feasibility of (R)-(+)-perillyl alcohol production.…”

Comparative Profiling of Solvent-mediated Phytochemical Expressions in Ocimum gratissimum and Vernonia amygdalina Leaf Tissues via FTIR Spectroscopy and Colorimetric Assays

“…They are used commercially as fragrances, flavors in food, cosmetics, and have been shown to have medicinal properties such as anti-ulcer, antimicrobial, antimalarial, anti-inflammatory, and diuretic activities [76]. Also, they have been found to be useful in the biofuel industry [77] Anthraquinones were found to be highly and moderately expressed in the methanolic solventfractions of Vernonia amygdalina and Ocimum gratissimum leaf tissue extracts, respectively. Anthraquinones are known to have a broad spectrum of biological activities, which includes anticancer, vasodilatory, anti-inflammatory, phytoestrogen, diuretic, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities [78,79].…”