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REVIEW article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbiotechnology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1386855

Advances in Biosynthesis and Metabolic Engineering Strategies of Cordycepin

Provisionally accepted
Ting Peng Ting Peng Jinlin Guo Jinlin Guo *Xinxin Tong Xinxin Tong *
  • Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Cordyceps militaris, also called as bei-chong-cao, is an insect-pathogenic fungus from the Ascomycota phylum and the Asparagaceae family. It is a valuable filamentous fungus with medicinal and edible properties that has been utilized in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and as a nutritious food. Cordycepin is the bioactive compound firstly isolated from C. militaris and has a variety of nutraceutical and health-promoting properties, making it widely employed in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical fields. Due to the low composition and paucity of wild resources, its availability from natural sources is limited. With the elucidation of the cordycepin biosynthetic pathway and the advent of synthetic biology, a green cordycepin biosynthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Metarhizium robertsii has been developed, indicating a potential sustainable production method of cordycepin. Given that, this review primarily focused on the metabolic engineering and heterologous biosynthesis strategies of cordycepin.

    Keywords: Cordyceps militaris, Cordycepin, Microbial Fermentation, biosynthesis, Metabolic Engineering

    Received: 16 Feb 2024; Accepted: 26 Apr 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Peng, Guo and Tong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Jinlin Guo, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, 610075, Sichuan Province, China
    Xinxin Tong, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, 610075, Sichuan Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.