Advances in production and structural derivatization of the promising molecule ursolic acid

Abstract

Ursolic acid (UA) is a ursane‐type pentacyclic triterpenoid compound, naturally produced in plants via specialized metabolism and exhibits vast range of remarkable physiological activities and pharmacological manifestations. Owing to significant safety and efficacy in different medical conditions, UA may serve as a backbone to produce its derivatives with novel therapeutic functions. This review aims to provide ideas for exploring more diverse structures to improve UA pharmacological activity and increasing its biological yield to meet the industrial requirements by systematically reviewing the current research progress of UA. We first provides an overview of the pharmacological activities, acquisition methods and structural modifications of UA. Among them, we focused on the synthetic modifications of UA to yield valuable derivatives with enhanced therapeutic potential. Furthermore, harnessing the essential advances for green synthesis of UA and its derivatives by advent of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology are of great concern. In this regard, all pivotal advances for enhancing the production of UA have been discussed. In combination with the advantages of UA biosynthesis and transformation strategy, large‐scale microbial production of UA is a promising platform for further exploration.

Recent advances in yeast genome evolution with stress tolerance for green biological manufacturing

“…The switch of traditional chemical manufacturing towards green biological manufacturing supersedes the existing “high energy consumption, high emissions” model and dependence on fossil resources (Clark et al, 2012) for the synthesis of valuable compounds. For example, enzyme catalysis and construction of microbial cell factories to biosynthesize Glycyrrhetinic acid (Ahmad et al, 2020; Xu et al, 2021), Diosgenin (Abbas et al, 2021), Ursolic acid and its derivatives (Liu et al, 2021). In addition, employing renewable biomaterials with low CO 2 emission to replace fossil fuel resources has become the global attention to develop green, renewable, safe, and controllable biological manufacturing as a primary goal of human society.…”

Bacterial Attachment and Biofilm Formation on Antimicrobial Sealants and Stainless Steel Surfaces

“…Moreover, it should be noted that antimicrobial surface agents can inhibit biofilm formation for example via quorum sensing [77] or cyclic di-GMP (c-di-GMP) signaling interference, of which the latter is an intracellular signaling molecule of bacteria [78]. Quorum sensing (QS) is an intra-and intercellular mechanism, which facilitates the communication between cells and the interaction between the environment and cells [79].…”

Ursolic Acid Targets Glucosyltransferase and Inhibits Its Activity to Prevent Streptococcus mutans Biofilm Formation

“…Interestingly, ursolic acid showed inhibitory activity on biofilms at 1/2 MIC, similar to chlorhexidine (Supplementary Figure S3). Moreover, ursolic acid has low toxicity and is versatile in terms of its biological activity, evidenced by its antiviral, liver protective, and whitening effects (Zou et al, 2019;Liu et al, 2021). Therefore, ursolic acid has great potential to be used as a lead compound in the development of an effective inhibitor for dental caries and as a protective agent for oral health.…”