Production of the antimalarial drug precursor artemisinic acid in engineered yeast

Dae-Kyun Ro, Eric M. Paradise, Mario Ouellet, Karl J. Fisher, Karyn L. Newman, John M. Ndungu, Kimberly A. Ho, Rachel A. Eachus, Timothy S. Ham, James Kirby, Michelle C. Y. Chang, Sydnor T. Withers, Yoichiro Shiba, Richmond Sarpong and Jay D. Keasling ()
Additional contact information
Dae-Kyun Ro: California Institute of Quantitative Biomedical Research
Eric M. Paradise: Department of Chemical Engineering
Mario Ouellet: California Institute of Quantitative Biomedical Research
Karl J. Fisher: Amyris Biotechnologies Inc.
Karyn L. Newman: California Institute of Quantitative Biomedical Research
John M. Ndungu: Department of Chemistry
Kimberly A. Ho: California Institute of Quantitative Biomedical Research
Rachel A. Eachus: California Institute of Quantitative Biomedical Research
Timothy S. Ham: Department of Bioengineering
James Kirby: Department of Chemical Engineering
Michelle C. Y. Chang: California Institute of Quantitative Biomedical Research
Sydnor T. Withers: Department of Chemical Engineering
Yoichiro Shiba: Department of Chemical Engineering
Richmond Sarpong: Department of Chemistry
Jay D. Keasling: California Institute of Quantitative Biomedical Research

Nature, 2006, vol. 440, issue 7086, 940-943

Abstract: Battling malaria Drug-resistant strains of the malaria parasite are widespread, and as a result mortality due to malaria has increased significantly in recent years. Artemisinin, isolated from the herb Artemisia annua (sweet wormwood), is one drug that shows a high efficacy in killing multi-resistant strains of the parasite. The drug is extremely expensive, and high demand has led to a shortage of artemisinin, available only by extraction from the plant source. Ro et al. now report the development of a yeast strain engineered to carry a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase from A. annua that can produce the drug precursor, artemisinic acid. Artemisinin can be synthesized from this precursor. If the efficiency of this process can be improved, this engineered yeast strain has the potential to alleviate the drug shortage.

Date: 2006
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DOI: 10.1038/nature04640

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