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Current status, strategies, and potential for the metabolic engineering of heterologous polyketides in Escherichia coli

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Abstract

Heterologous natural product biosynthesis has emerged as a strategy to produce medicinal compounds that pose challenges to conventional production routes. Polyketide compounds, an important class of natural products with wide-ranging therapeutic value, have been heterologously produced through Escherichia coli, presenting new opportunities to realize the medicinal potential of polyketide natural products. However, current production levels are often suboptimal when compared to native strain producers or heterologous theoretical yields. This problem provides an excellent opportunity to apply and further develop current metabolic engineering tools.

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Acknowledgements

BAB would like to thank Prof. Kyongbum Lee, Dr. Yong Wang, and Haoran Zhang for their continued insightful discussions. BAB would also like to thank the Tufts University BREEM Program (started through National Institutes of Health #R25 GM073177-01) and the Tufts Faculty Research Awards Committee for support.

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  1. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering Science and Technology Center, Tufts University, 4 Colby Street, Medford, MA, 02155, USA

    Brett A. Boghigian & Blaine A. Pfeifer

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  1. Brett A. Boghigian
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  2. Blaine A. Pfeifer
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Correspondence to Blaine A. Pfeifer.

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Boghigian, B.A., Pfeifer, B.A. Current status, strategies, and potential for the metabolic engineering of heterologous polyketides in Escherichia coli . Biotechnol Lett 30, 1323–1330 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-008-9689-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-008-9689-2

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