The Amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum as Novel Production Host for Complex Substances

In this chapter, we discuss the necessity of novel chassis organisms for the production of natural products to steer away from petrochemical approaches and the usage of common model organisms. We present the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum as a novel host for the production of complex organic substances and exploration of cryptic biosynthetic routes of secondary metabolites. We shed light on the genetic repertoire of the amoeba in terms of natural product biosyntheses and give an overview of growth characteristics, genetic engineering tools, and cultivation methodologies from shake flasks to stirred-tank bioreactors. Finally, an outlook is made on the perspective of D. discoideum as the chassis for biotechnological production and discovery of novel active substances.