中国生物工程杂志

Abstract: Biotransformation of bioactive natural leading compounds is a kind of bioprocess in which the structure of the added bioactive natural leading compounds could be modified by biocatalysts (e.g., enzyme, microbial, plant and animal cells) in order to produce high efficient and low toxicity compounds. The biotransformation purpose of the known bioactive natural leading compounds is to improve its efficiency, or reduce its toxicity, or improve its solubility and bioavailability. The trace and high-valued bioactive natural leading compounds also could be produced by the biotransformation, and the biotransformation of bioactive natural leading compounds is still helpful to study the mechanism of drug metabolism. The current focus of the biotransformation of bioactive natural leading compounds is on the compounds of steroid, quinine, flavone and terpene, and some important biotransformation process has been successfully screened out. Fundamental research should be done in the following fields, such as the biotransformation mechanism of bioactive natural leading compounds, biotransformation process engineering, and the efficiency evaluation of bioproducts produced by biotransformation. The latest biotechnology (e.g., directed evolution of biocatalyst, combinatorial biotransformation, non-aqueous biotransformation, high throughput screening) should be introduced to the biotransformation of bioactive natural leading compounds, which will boost the fast development of the biotransformation of bioactive natural leading compounds.