一个由南京大学谭仁祥教授带领的研究小组在合成生物学研究中取得一项新突破。他们以结构为驱动，重组了微生物生物合成步骤，实现了植物化学物质的再生。这一研究成果发表在2021年12月20日出版的国际学术期刊《德国应用化学》上。

在该研究中，课题组人员提出了一种策略，该策略在重新编程的细胞中以金丝桃素结构为中心，对微生物生物合成步骤进行修饰和重组，使其被重新导向从而按照设计的连续反应生产金丝桃素（43.1 mg/L），且无需获取其在原始植物中的生物合成知识。该研究为金丝桃素提供了一条合成生物学途径，并为药用植物化学物质的生物可持续来源建立了一个平台。

研究人员介绍，药用植物化学物质——如青蒿素和紫杉醇——已经影响了世界。而如果金丝桃素的来源问题能够得到解决，它可能也会影响世界。金丝桃素是圣约翰草（贯叶连翘）的标志性成分，在美国、欧洲和英国的药典中都有记载，是一种批准的抑郁症缓解药，并对多种癌症和病毒有其他的功效。然而，由于金丝桃素在植物中的含量低、难以进行大规模化学合成和生物合成机理不清等原因，金丝桃素从学术到工业的转化仍受到阻碍。

附：英文原文

Title: Regeneration of Phytochemicals by Structure-Driven Organization of Microbial Biosynthetic Steps

Author: Xue Ming Wu, Qiu Yan Guan, Yun Bin Han, Xin Cun Wang, Wen Ying Zhuang, Ren Xiang Tan

Issue&Volume: 2021-12-20

Abstract: Medicinal phytochemicals, such as artemisinin and taxol, have impacted the world, and hypericin might do so if its availability issue could be addressed. Hypericin is the hallmark component of Saint John’s wort (  Hypericum perforatum  L.), an approved depression alleviator documented in the US, European, and British pharmacopoeias with its additional effectiveness against diverse cancers and viruses. However, the academia-to-industry transition of hypericin remain hampered by its low  in planta  abundance, unfeasible bulk chemical synthesis, and unclear biosynthetic mechanism. Here, we present a strategy consisting of the hypericin-structure-centered modification and reorganization of microbial biosynthetic steps in the repurposed cells that have been repurposed to enable the designed consecutive reactions to afford hypericin (43.1 mg/L), without acquiring its biosynthetic knowledge in native plants. The study provides a synthetic biology route to hypericin and establishes a platform for biosustainable access to medicinal phytochemicals.

DOI: 10.1002/anie.202114919

Source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202114919