Optimum chalcone synthase for flavonoid biosynthesis in microorganisms

Abstract

Chalcones and the subsequently generated flavonoids, as well as flavonoid derivatives, have been proven to have a variety of physiological activities and are widely used in: the pharmaceutical, food, feed, and cosmetic industries. As the content of chalcones and downstream products in native plants is low, the production of these compounds by microorganisms has gained the attention of many researchers and has a history of more than 20 years. The mining and engineering of chalcone synthase (CHS) could be one of the most important ways to achieve more efficient production of chalcones and downstream products in microorganisms. CHS has a broad spectrum of substrates, and its enzyme activity and expression level can significantly affect the efficiency of the biosynthesis of flavonoids. This review summarizes the recent advances in the: structure, mechanism, evolution, substrate spectrum, transformation, and expression regulation in the flavonoid biosynthesis of this vital enzyme. Future development directions were also suggested. The findings may further promote the research and development of flavonoids and health products, making them vital in the fields of human diet and health.

Keywords:

• Enzyme engineering
• expression regulation
• metabolic engineering
• plant natural product
• synthetic biology
• multigene family
• site-directed mutagenesis
• evolution

Disclosure statement

The authors report that they have no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China [2019YFA0904800], the Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China [32021005], the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars [21822806], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [21908078], the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project [2019M651701], the National First-class Discipline Program of Light Industry Technology and Engineering [LITE2018-08].