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Updated: Jan 31, 2026
Rapid One-step Enzymatic Synthesis and All-aqueous Purification of Trehalose Analogues
Published on: February 17, 2017
Two-step pathway for isoprenoid synthesis
Alkiviadis Orfefs Chatzivasileiou1, Valerie Ward1,2, Steven McBride Edgar1
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139.
Abstract:
Isoprenoids comprise a large class of chemicals of significant interest due to their diverse properties. Biological production of isoprenoids is considered to be the most efficient way for their large-scale production. Isoprenoid biosynthesis has thus far been dependent on pathways inextricably linked to glucose metabolism. These pathways suffer from inherent limitations due to their length, complex regulation, and extensive cofactor requirements. Here, we present a synthetic isoprenoid pathway that aims to overcome these limitations. This isopentenol utilization pathway (IUP) can produce isopentenyl diphosphate or dimethylallyl diphosphate, the main precursors to isoprenoid synthesis, through sequential phosphorylation of isopentenol isomers isoprenol or prenol. After identifying suitable enzymes and constructing the pathway, we attempted to probe the limits of the IUP for producing various isoprenoid downstream products. The IUP flux exceeded the capacity of almost all downstream pathways tested and was competitive with the highest isoprenoid fluxes reported.
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