TY  - JOUR
T1  - Predicting Useful Microbial Biotransformations of Plant Natural Products by Matching Functional-Group Liability, Enzyme Class, Stereochemical Outcome, and Downstream Value
A1  - David Osei
A1  - Akua Afriyie
A1  - Kofi Adu
JF  - Specialty Journal of Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry, and Biotechnology
JO  - Spec J Pharmacogn Phytochem Biotechnol
SN  - 3062-441X
Y1  - 2024
VL  - 4
IS  - 2
DO  - 10.51847/a5sbj76QjC
SP  - 20
EP  - 29
N2  - Microbial biotransformation offers access to selective oxidation, glycosylation, halogenation, methylation, amination, and other modifications of structurally complex plant natural products, yet catalytic possibility alone provides a poor basis for choosing useful transformations. A candidate reaction may be chemically plausible but fail because the relevant enzyme does not accept the scaffold, generates an unsuitable regioisomer or stereoisomer, performs differently in a microbial host, produces competing products, or creates an intermediate with little downstream value. This article develops an original, evidence-bounded biotransformation prioritization model that treats route selection as a conditional matching problem rather than a reaction-enumeration exercise. Four analytical dimensions are integrated: functional-group liability as a context-dependent transformation opportunity; enzyme-class capability tempered by substrate recognition and catalytic architecture; regio- and stereochemical outcome as independent determinants of product utility; and downstream value defined by diversification potential, pathway compatibility, recoverability, or production relevance. The analysis further separates isolated-enzyme feasibility from whole-cell feasibility and distinguishes catalytic success from route-level usefulness. Evidence from late-stage enzymatic modification, cytochrome P450 oxidation, glycosyltransferases, halogenases, methyltransferases, heterologous enzyme expression, microbial pathway reconstruction, transport engineering, and stereoselective biocatalysis is used to establish the constraints that a useful prioritization framework must respect. The resulting model is proposed as a qualitative decision architecture, not a validated predictive score. Its principal limitation is the scarcity of systematically reported negative transformations and prospective cross-enzyme benchmarks needed to estimate generalizable success probabilities.
UR  - https://galaxypub.co/article/predicting-useful-microbial-biotransformations-of-plant-natural-products-by-matching-functional-grou-8ysgynqkihlxr4s
ER  -