[Biosynthesis of steroidal intermediates using : a review].

Steroids are a class of medicines with important physiological and pharmacological effects. In pharmaceutical industry, steroidal intermediates are mainly prepared through transformation, and then modified chemically or enzymatically into advanced steroidal compounds. Compared with the "diosgenin-dienolone" route, transformation has the advantages of abundant raw materials, cost-effective, short reaction route, high yield and environmental friendliness. Based on genomics and metabolomics, the key enzymes in the phytosterol degradation pathway of and their catalytic mechanisms are further revealed, which makes it possible for to be used as chassis cells. This review summarizes the progress in the discovery of steroid-converting enzymes from different species, the modification of genes and the overexpression of heterologous genes, and the optimization and modification of as chassis cells.