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Letter

Nature Chemical Biology 3, 274–277 (1 May 2007) | doi:10.1038/nchembio875

Engineering Escherichia coli for production of functionalized terpenoids using plant P450s

Michelle C Y Chang , Rachel A Eachus , William Trieu , Dae-Kyun Ro & Jay D Keasling

Terpenoids are a highly diverse class of natural products that have historically provided a rich source for discovery of pharmacologically active small molecules, such as paclitaxel (Taxol) and artemisinin. Unfortunately, these secondary metabolites are typically produced in low abundance in their host organism, and their isolation consequently suffers from low yields and high consumption of natural resources.