Akira Nakagawa, Hiromichi Minami, Ju-Sung Kim, Takashi Koyanagi, Takane Katayama, Fumihiko Sato, Hidehiko Kumagai
The plant secondary metabolites benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs) have diverse pharmaceutical activities, and some are used medicinally (e.g., morphine, codeine, berberine). Recently, we constructed a platform to produce BIAs using bioengineered Escherichia coli, which could be useful for bulk production. The E. coli strain used in this system produces the important intermediate (S)-reticuline from glucose or glycerol. Although the amount produced (40 mg/L) exceeded the amount that can be purified from plants, the conversion efficiency from glycerol was only 0...
January 1, 2012: Bioengineered Bugs