1.
Production of bioproducts by endophytic fungi: chemical ecology, biotechnological applications, bottlenecks, and solutions.
Yan, L, Zhao, H, Zhao, X, Xu, X, Di, Y, Jiang, C, Shi, J, Shao, D, Huang, Q, Yang, H, et al
Applied microbiology and biotechnology. 2018;(15):6279-6298
Abstract
Endophytes are microorganisms that colonize the interior of host plants without causing apparent disease. They have been widely studied for their ability to modulate relationships between plants and biotic/abiotic stresses, often producing valuable secondary metabolites that can affect host physiology. Owing to the advantages of microbial fermentation over plant/cell cultivation and chemical synthesis, endophytic fungi have received significant attention as a mean for secondary metabolite production. This article summarizes currently reported results on plant-endophyte interaction hypotheses and highlights the biotechnological applications of endophytic fungi and their metabolites in agriculture, environment, biomedicine, energy, and biocatalysts. Current bottlenecks in industrial development and commercial applications as well as possible solutions are also discussed.
2.
Strategies for enhancing resveratrol production and the expression of pathway enzymes.
Lu, Y, Shao, D, Shi, J, Huang, Q, Yang, H, Jin, M
Applied microbiology and biotechnology. 2016;(17):7407-21
Abstract
Trans-resveratrol (trans-3,5,4'-trihydroxystilbene) is one of the most promising stilbenes, a type of natural phenol that is produced naturally by some plant species in response to stress. Resveratrol exhibits multiple bioactivities and is used in the agriculture, medical, food, and cosmetic industries due to its antitumor, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, and antioxidant properties. Due to the increasing demand, an active area of investigation is the use of plant cell culture and metabolic engineering techniques to produce large quantities of active resveratrol. However, most recent studies have focused on the efficiency of synthesizing resveratrol in vitro, but have not investigated the contributions of the transcriptional activities of the genes encoding the related enzymes in the biosynthesis pathway. This article reviews recently developed methods for the biosynthesis of resveratrol and comprehensively reviews the current state of knowledge of the function of the key pathway enzymes in resveratrol synthesis. Approaches for enhancing resveratrol production, such as introducing non-pathway genes and co-localizing enzymes are described in detail.