Recent Strategies for the Biosynthesis of Ergothioneine

Abstract

Ergothioneine (EGT) is a unique naturally occurring amino acid that is usually biosynthesized by bacteria and fungi. As a food-derived antioxidant and cytoprotectant, it has several physiological benefits and has a wide range of applications in food, medicine, and cosmetics. Traditional production of EGT is mainly through biological extraction or chemical synthesis; however, these methods are inefficient, making large-scale production to meet the growing market demand difficult. Nowadays, the rapid development of synthetic biology has greatly accelerated the research on the EGT production by microbial fermentation. In this paper, the biological characteristics, applications, biosynthesis, separation, and detection methods of EGT were fully reviewed. Furthermore, the approaches and challenges for engineering microbial cells to efficiently synthesize EGT were also discussed. This work provides new ideas and future research potentials in EGT production.

Health consequences of improving the content of ergothioneine in the food supply

“…Some are based on mushroom powders or extracts, and some are products of fungal fermentations. New studies are emerging on how microorganisms can be genetically engineered to produce ERGO in significant amounts [21]. For example, this has been accomplished using recombinant baker's yeast [22] and wine yeast [23] so the possibility to produce bread and wine with higher ERGO levels may be possible in the future.…”

Engineering Methyltransferase and Sulfoxide Synthase for High-Yield Production of Ergothioneine

“…However, the current production of ERG is unable to meet the market demand due to its low yield and high cost. Currently, the construction of engineered strains and the production of ERG by microbial fermentation have become research hotspots due to their advantages of high yield and low cost. , …”

Gene knockdown by structure defined single-stem loop small non-coding RNAs with programmable regulatory activities

“…Ergothioneine is a sulfur-containing histidine derivative synthesized by many fungi and some bacteria. The superantioxidant nature of ergothioneine has made it an invaluable ingredient in foods [ 43 ] and cosmetics [ 44 ]. Several genes have been engineered for improving ergothioneine biosynthesis in industrial microorganisms such as E. coli [ 45 ] and Saccharomyces cerevisiae [ 46 ].…”