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Updated: Oct 29, 2025

A Customizable Approach for the Enzymatic Production and Purification of Diterpenoid Natural Products
Published on: October 4, 2019
[Synthetic biology of plants-derived medicinal natural products]
Fenglin Jiang1, Ting Gong1, Jingjing Chen1
1NHC Key Laboratory of Biosynthesis of Natural Products, CAMS Key Laboratory of Enzyme and Biocatalysis of Natural Drugs, State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China.
Abstract:
Medicinal natural products derived from plants are usually of low content and difficult to extract and isolate. Moreover, these compounds are structurally complex, making it difficult to obtain them by environmental unfriendly chemical synthesis. Biosynthesis of medicinal natural products through synthetic biology is a novel, environment-friendly and sustainable approach. Taking terpenoids (ginsenosides, paclitaxel, artemisinin, tanshinones), alkaloids (vincristine and morphine), and flavonoids (breviscapine) as examples, this review summarizes the advances of the biosynthetic pathways and synthetic biology strategies of plant-derived medicinal natural products. Moreover, we introduce the key technologies and methods of synthetic biology used in the research of medicinal natural products, and provide future prospects in this area.
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