Cell-free synthetic biochemistry aims to engineer chemical biology by exploiting biosynthetic dexterity outside of the constraints of a living cell. One particular use is for making natural products, where cell-free systems have initially demonstrated feasibility in the biosynthesis of a range of complex natural products classes. This has shown key advantages over total synthesis, such as increased yield, enhanced regioselectivity, use of reduced temperatures and less reaction steps. Uniquely, cell-free synthetic biochemistry represents a new area that seeks to advance upon these efforts and is particularly useful for defining novel synthetic pathways to replace natural routes and optimising the production of complex natural product targets from low-cost precursors. Key challenges and opportunities will include finding solutions to scaled-up cell-free biosynthesis, as well as the targeting of high value and toxic natural products that remain challenging to make either through whole-cell biotransformation platforms or total synthesis routes. Although underexplored, cell-free synthetic biochemistry could also be used to develop ‘non-natural’ natural products or so-called xenobiotics for novel antibiotics and drugs, which can be difficult to engineer directly within a living cell.
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November 2019
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Cover Image
Cover Image
This issue of Emerging Topics in Life Sciences brings together a collection of perspectives and reviews discussing the exciting advances in synthetic biology. The cover image is an adaptation of a figure featured in the review ‘Physicochemical considerations for bottom-up synthetic biology’ by Śmigiel et al. It shows an artist's impression of a bottom-up constructed synthetic cell, representing the three basic processes of a living cell: cell fuelling (green), DNA processing (orange/red), and cell division (blue).
Review Article|
September 04 2019
Enzyme alchemy: cell-free synthetic biochemistry for natural products
Simon J. Moore
School of Biosciences, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NJ, U.K.
Correspondence: Simon J. Moore ([email protected])
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
June 28 2019
Revision Received:
August 09 2019
Accepted:
August 12 2019
Online ISSN: 2397-8562
Print ISSN: 2397-8554
© 2019 The Author(s). Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society and the Royal Society of Biology
2019
Emerg Top Life Sci (2019) 3 (5): 529–535.
Article history
Received:
June 28 2019
Revision Received:
August 09 2019
Accepted:
August 12 2019
Citation
Simon J. Moore; Enzyme alchemy: cell-free synthetic biochemistry for natural products. Emerg Top Life Sci 11 November 2019; 3 (5): 529–535. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/ETLS20190083
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