Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From yeast to alkaloids

Alkaloids, which include caffeine and morphine, are a large class of pharmacologically active plant compounds that are often difficult to chemically synthesize. Incorporation of benzylisoquinoline alkaloid pathways in yeast will facilitate the production of natural and non-natural alkaloids.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Pathways for the production of BIAs.

References

  1. Hawkins, K.M. & Smolke, C.D. Nat. Chem. Biol. 4, 564–573 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Khosla, C. & Keasling, J.D. Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 2, 1019–1025 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Minami, H. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105, 7393–7398 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Martin, V.J.J., Pitera, D.J., Withers, S.T., Newman, J.D. & Keasling, J.D. Nat. Biotechnol. 21, 796–802 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Ro, D.-K. et al. Nature 440, 940–943 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Keasling, J. From yeast to alkaloids. Nat Chem Biol 4, 524–525 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio0908-524

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio0908-524

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing