Biomolecular Engineering of Microorganisms for Natural Products Production

Natural products are complex small molecules produced by an array of organisms and which humans have put to diverse uses, including as pesticides, antibiotics, and anticancer agents. While a wide range has already been uncovered it is clear that there are many more potential biosynthetic pathways for which the products have never been studied. Using the tools of synthetic biology allows us to manipulate these pathways and produce the desired compounds. The genes involved can also be transferred into other organisms which can be more easily manipulated. Recent advances in understanding these complex systems have also informed the targeted manipulation of biosynthetic pathways to produce specific modifications of the final natural product. In the future it may be possible, rather than relying on chemical synthesis, to design and build artificial pathways to synthesize completely new compounds as desired.