Recently, a review article entitled "Heterologous expression of bacterial natural product biosynthetic pathways" was published on the top journal "Natural Product Reports" (impact factor: 11.406) by the State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology (SKLMT). Professor Huo Liujie from the SKLMT is the first author; Professor Bian Xiaoying, Professor Zhang Youming from the SKLMT and Prof. Rolf Müller (member of the German Academy of Engineering and German Academy of Science) from Helmholtz Institute of Pharmaceutical Research in Germany are co-corresponding authors. The State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology of Shandong University and the Helmholtz-Shandong University International Laboratory are the first corresponding institutions.

Heterologous expression of natural product biosynthetic pathways is of increasing interest in microbial biotechnology, drug discovery and optimization. It empowers not only the robust production of valuable biomolecules in more amenable heterologous hosts but also permits the generation of novel analogs through biosynthetic engineering. This strategy also facilitates the discovery of novel bioactive compounds following the functional expression of cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) from fastidious original producers or metagenomic DNA in surrogate hosts, thus facilitating genome mining in the post-genomic era. This review discusses recent advances and trends pertaining to the heterologous production of bacterial natural products, with an emphasis on new techniques, heterologous hosts, and novel chemistry since 2013.

Helmholtz-Shandong University International Laboratory is an international cooperative laboratory established jointly by Shandong University and Helmholtz Infection Research Center of Germany. It focuses on the discovery and optimization of anti-infective drugs. It is one of the three international laboratories approved by Helmholtz association so far.

The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31670098, 31670097), the "111" Higher Education Discipline Innovation Introduction Program (B16030), the Recruitment Program of Global Experts and the Qilu Youth Scholar Startup Funding of Shandong University.

Written by: Huo Liujie