Leavell Michael D, McPhee Derek J, Paddon Chris J
Amyris, Inc., 5885 Hollis Street, Suite 100, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA.
Amyris, Inc., 5885 Hollis Street, Suite 100, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA.
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2016 Feb;37:114-119. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2015.10.007. Epub 2015 Dec 23.
Terpenoids comprise a large (>55000) family of compounds, very few of which have been used commercially due to low and economically unpractical production in their native hosts (generally plants and microorganisms). Two examples of natural terpenoid production are described (rubber and astaxanthin), but the advent of metabolic engineering has allowed the development of fermentative production processes using heterologous microorganisms. The two biochemical pathways responsible for terpenoid production are described, along with manipulations that enable production of terpenoids at economically viable levels. Finally, this article reviews some terpenoids that are currently in commercial production or development, ranging from semisynthetic production of the antimalarial drug artemisinin, through fragrance molecules, to commodity chemicals such as isoprene and β-farnesene.
萜类化合物构成了一个庞大（超过55000种）的化合物家族，由于其在天然宿主（通常是植物和微生物）中的产量低且在经济上不实用，因此只有极少数被用于商业用途。文中描述了天然萜类化合物生产的两个例子（橡胶和虾青素），但代谢工程的出现使得利用异源微生物开发发酵生产工艺成为可能。文中介绍了负责萜类化合物生产的两条生化途径，以及能够使萜类化合物在经济上可行的水平上生产的操作方法。最后，本文综述了一些目前正在进行商业生产或开发的萜类化合物，范围从抗疟药物青蒿素的半合成生产，到香料分子，再到诸如异戊二烯和β-法尼烯等商品化学品。
