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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

A Customizable Approach for the Enzymatic Production and Purification of Diterpenoid Natural Products
Published on: October 4, 2019
Mechanistic advances in plant natural product enzymes
Aimee R Usera1, Sarah E O'Connor
1Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Chemistry, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Abstract:
The biosynthetic pathways of plant natural products offer an abundance of knowledge to scientists in many fields. Synthetic chemists can be inspired by the synthetic strategies that nature uses to construct these compounds. Chemical and biological engineers are working to reprogram these biosynthetic pathways to more efficiently produce valuable products. Finally, biochemists and enzymologists are interested in the detailed mechanisms of the complex transformations involved in the construction of these natural products. Study of biosynthetic enzymes and pathways therefore has a wide-ranging impact. In recent years, many plant biosynthetic pathways have been characterized, particularly the pathways that are responsible for alkaloid biosynthesis. Here we highlight recently studied alkaloid biosynthetic enzymes that catalyze production of numerous complex medicinal compounds, as well as the specifier proteins in glucosinosolate biosynthesis, whose structure and mechanism of action are just beginning to be unraveled.
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