Engineering natural products using combinatorial biosynthesis and biocatalysis

Many biologically active natural products are produced by the host organisms using dedicated biosynthetic pathways. The programming rules of these pathways may be rationally manipulated through combinatorial biosynthesis to produce natural products that contain structural variations or enhanced pharmacological properties. Furthermore, these pathways contain enzymes that can be harvested as powerful biocatalysts for the synthesis of both new drugs and existing blockbuster therapeutics. This review will highlight recent advances in exploring natural product biosynthetic pathways for new compounds, novel enzymes and useful biocatalysts.