Metabolic Engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for Synthesis of Ephedrine Alkaloids

Ephedrine and its derivatives are plant alkaloids with well-established medicinal properties. Currently ephedrine is synthesized using a mix of biological and chemical processes. The ephedrine synthesis process has the potential to be converted into a completely biological process because all the reactions can be catalyzed by enzymes. Metabolic engineering concepts and synthetic biology tools can be applied for synthesis of this important pharmaceutical compound. As of this writing, each individual step is being evaluated for enzymatic synthesis. A final assembly of such enzymatic steps could result in an entirely biological process for ephedrine production. Here in this chapter we discuss all the past and current research on the synthesis of ephedrine and the future directions in this area.