A microbial platform for selective biosynthesis of monoterpene esters (opens in new tab)

Reconstructing the precise biosynthesis of structurally complex natural esters, such as monoterpene esters, in engineered microbes remains a major challenge, owing to the limited repertoire of highly selective alcohol acyltransferases and the lack of compatible pathway modularity. Here, we establish a dual-substrate microbial platform to profile the activities of alcohol acyltransferase (AAT) to synthesize three distinct classes of monoterpene esters: monoterpenyl esters, monoterpenoate ester...