The optimization of penicillin biosynthesis in fungi

摘要

Penicillin production by Penicillium chrysogenum is not only commercially important but arguably the most intensively investi- gated secondary-metabolic pathway in fungi. Isolation of the structural genes encoding the three main penicillin-biosynthetic enzymes has stimulated the use of molecular approaches to optimize yield and permitted genetic analysis of current production strains, which are themselves the products of 50 years of strain and process improvement.