Accelerating the semisynthesis of alkaloid-based drugs through metabolic engineering

Alkaloid-derived pharmaceuticals are commonly semisynthesized from plant-extracted starting materials, which often limits their availability and final price. Recent advances in synthetic biology have enabled the introduction of complete plant pathways into microbes for the production of plant alkaloids. Microbial production of modified alkaloids has the potential to accelerate the semisynthesis of alkaloid-derived drugs by providing advanced intermediates that are structurally closer to the final pharmaceuticals and could be used as advanced intermediates for the synthesis of novel drugs. Here, we analyze the scientific and engineering challenges that must be overcome to generate microbes to produce modified plant alkaloids that can provide more suitable intermediates to US Food and Drug Administration–approved pharmaceuticals. We highlight modified alkaloids that currently could be produced by leveraging existing alkaloid microbial platforms with minor variations to accelerate the semisynthesis of seven pharmaceuticals on the market.