Synthetic Biology Approaches for Representative Bioactive Metabolites of Medicinal Mushrooms

Medicinal mushrooms represent valuable sources of high-value bioactive molecules. However, these valuable active ingredients exhibit low yield in their natural sources, and their structural complexity presents significant challenges for their extraction and isolation. Synthetic biology addresses these limitations by enabling the green and efficient synthesis of bioactive molecules through engineered microbial cell factories, offering a sustainable approach to utilizing rare mushroom-derived compounds. This review summarizes recent advances in the biosynthesis and heterologous microbial production of key bioactive constituents, including cordycepin, ganoderic acid, ergothioneine, pachymic acid, blazeispirols, erinacines and Sanghuang polysaccharide. Furthermore, it provides methodological strategies based on synthetic biology to produce other rare bioactive constituents from medicinal mushrooms.