Toward a unified pipeline for natural product discovery: tools and strategies for NRPS and PKS pathway exploration and engineering

Biyan Chen, Emre F. Bülbül, SeoungGun Bang, Hannah A. Minas and Kenan A. J. Bozhüyük

Nat. Prod. Rep., 2026, 43, 352
DOI: 10.1039/D5NP00041F

Continuous flow synthesis of epinephrine through modularized multienzyme cascades

Wenhao Meng, Zejiao Liu, Xiaofan Lin, Zhenkun Zhang and Yifei Zhang

Green Chem., 2026, 28, 4873
DOI: 10.1039/D5GC05637C

Fungal ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (F-RiPPs): Biosynthesis, genome mining, structural diversity, and translational potential as targeted anticancer ADC payloads

S.T. Gopukumar, Madhumita Saha, Purbasha Das, Punniyamoorthy Sheela, M Komala, Jayaramareddy Harish, Karpakavalli Meenakshi Sundaram, Samer Shamshad and Uddalak Das

Fitoterapia, 2026, 192, 107283
DOI: 10.1016/j.fitote.2026.107283

Antimicrobial discovery from underexplored environments: unlocking specialized metabolism

Tao Han, Qiqi He, Guifa Zhai and Xiaofeng Cai

Current Opinion in Microbiology, 2026, 91, 102745
DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2026.102745

Peptidic Tryptophan Halogenation by a Promiscuous Flavin‐Dependent Enzyme

Andrew J. Rice, Mayuresh G. Gadgil, Paola Bisignano, Richard A. Stein, Hassane S. Mchaourab and Douglas A. Mitchell

Angewandte Chemie, 2025, 137
DOI: 10.1002/ange.202509729

Advances in the microbial biosynthesis of therapeutic terpenoids

Peter H Winegar, Maria CT Astolfi, Sara F Holm, Graham A Hudson and Jay D Keasling

Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 2025, 96, 103374
DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2025.103374

Balancing Consecutive Two-Step Oxidations Catalyzed by a Single Cytochrome P450 Enables Efficient Biosynthesis of Plant Natural Products

Yilin Chen, Zhiwei Deng, Yan Zhang, Zhenbo Yuan, Changmei Liu, Zhengshan Luo and Yijian Rao

ACS Synth. Biol., 2026, 15, 1617
DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6c00016

Cell-Free Protein Synthesis Reactor Formats: A Brief History and Analysis

Dallin M. Chipman, Anna C. Woolley, Davu N. Chau, William A. Lance, Joseph P. Talley, Tyler P. Green, Benjamin C. Robbins and Bradley C. Bundy

SynBio, 2025, 3, 10
DOI: 10.3390/synbio3030010

Development of Komagataella phaffii Cell‐Free Protein Synthesis Using Cell From Basic Salt Medium

Yu Zhang, Yue Wang, Wenjie Cong, Hualan Zhou and Jianguo Zhang

Food Bioengineering, 2025, 4, 502
DOI: 10.1002/fbe2.70030

Metagenomics-driven discovery of next-generation fermentation biocatalysts: From enzyme mining to synthetic biology applications

Atif Khurshid Wani, Rashid Mumtaz Khan, Noureddine Elboughdiri, Jaskaran Singh, Karim Kriaa, Chemseddine Maatki, Bilel Hadrich and Reena Singh

Food Bioscience, 2026, 77, 108391
DOI: 10.1016/j.fbio.2026.108391

Heterologous expression of NRPS and PKS pathways in Escherichia coli: from bottlenecks to biosynthetic platforms

Lisa Göbner, Tobias A. M. Gulder and Paul M. D'Agostino

Essays in Biochemistry, 2026
DOI: 10.1042/EBC20250044

Establishing a High-Yield Bacillus subtilis-Based Cell-Free Protein Synthesis System for In Vitro Prototyping and Natural Product Biosynthesis

Xiangyang Ji, Wan-Qiu Liu, Zhiling Cao, Shuhui Huang and Jian Li

ACS Synth. Biol., 2025, 14, 1288
DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.5c00021

Photoinduced transition metal-catalyzed cyclization for heterocycle synthesis

Chao Liu, Linghai Xie and Erik V. Van der Eycken

Coordination Chemistry Reviews, 2026, 557, 217756
DOI: 10.1016/j.ccr.2026.217756

Marine bacterial metabolites in anticancer drug discovery: Ecological insights, mechanisms of action, and clinical translation

Panneerselvam Theivendren, Surabhi Panneerselvam, Jayakumari Swaminathan, Vijayakumar Murugesan, Kommu Pradeep, Muneer Jan Bhat, Anna Zarfishan, Kumarappan Chidambaram and Natarajan Kiruthiga

Regional Studies in Marine Science, 2026, 96, 104935
DOI: 10.1016/j.rsma.2026.104935

Co-cultivation strategies for natural product discovery from actinomycetes: unlocking silent secondary metabolism with mycolic acid-containing bacteria

Shumpei Asamizu

World J Microbiol Biotechnol, 2025, 41
DOI: 10.1007/s11274-025-04406-7

Synthetic Nanobiology Actuated Lipometabolic Cell Factory for Autologous Tumor Immunotherapy

Shoujie Zhao, Yejing Zhu, Hengchao Yu, Jun Zhu, Bo Wang, Yu Qiao, Zhimin Tian, Junlong Zhao and Lei Liu

Adv Funct Materials, 2026, 36
DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202520953

Quantum-Resolved Photonic Editing of Endothelial Gene Regulation

Hossein Chamkouri

J Bio-X Res, 2026, 9
DOI: 10.34133/jbioxresearch.0088

Reaction Engineering of In Vitro Natural Product Biosynthesis: Challenges and Strategies

Elsa Sánchez‐García, Stephan Lütz and Markus Nett

ChemBioChem, 2025, 26
DOI: 10.1002/cbic.202500571

Construction and optimization of a cell-free metabolic engineering system for lycopene synthesis

Suqing Chen, Guocui Zhu, Zhijie Wang, Bowen Fu, Mengjuan Sun, Jie Liu, Chengjia Xie and Xian Xu

Biochemical Engineering Journal, 2025, 222, 109849
DOI: 10.1016/j.bej.2025.109849

Snake venom-derived peptides as anticancer candidates: Pioneering next-generation therapies

José R. Almeida, Edgar A. Pinos-Tamayo, Bruno Mendes, Alberto A. Robles-Loaiza, Rony Abdi Syahputra, Ana Gabriela Silva Oliveira and Rosy Iara Maciel de A. Ribeiro

Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Reviews on Cancer, 2025, 1880, 189479
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbcan.2025.189479

Artificial cell-free pathway for carbon-efficient glycerol-HCO3− conversion to l-aspartate with ATP and cofactor trade-offs

Long-wei Lou, Zi-hang Xi, Zong-lin Li and Zhi-min Li

Bioresource Technology, 2026, 452, 134594
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2026.134594

A cell-free system for 1,6-hexanediamine synthesis using bulk chemical caprolactam as the feedstock

Ren Liu, Chouqiang Li, Yihui Zhang, Guohui Li and Yu Deng

Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology, 2026, 14, 429
DOI: 10.1016/j.synbio.2026.05.003

Characterizing and engineering post-translational modifications with high-throughput cell-free expression

Derek A. Wong, Zachary M. Shaver, Maria D. Cabezas, Martin Daniel-Ivad, Katherine F. Warfel, Deepali V. Prasanna, Sarah E. Sobol, Regina Fernandez, Fernando Tobias, Szymon K. Filip, Sophia W. Hulbert, Peter Faull, Robert Nicol, Matthew P. DeLisa, Emily P. Balskus, Ashty S. Karim and Michael C. Jewett

Nat Commun, 2025, 16
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60526-6

Amino acid tailoring strategies in peptide natural product biosynthesis

Lukas Zimmer and Max Crüsemann

Trends in Chemistry, 2025, 7, 705
DOI: 10.1016/j.trechm.2025.09.014

Green Drug Discovery: Leveraging Biodiversity for Sustainable Pharmaceutical Solutions

Arshdeep Singh, Rabin Debnath, Viney Chawla and Pooja A. Chawla

Chemistry & Biodiversity, 2026, 23
DOI: 10.1002/cbdv.202500733

Peptidic Tryptophan Halogenation by a Promiscuous Flavin‐Dependent Enzyme

Andrew J. Rice, Mayuresh G. Gadgil, Paola Bisignano, Richard A. Stein, Hassane S. Mchaourab and Douglas A. Mitchell

Angew Chem Int Ed, 2025, 64
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202509729

Plant molecular farming as a biomanufacturing platform: From molecular design to industrial implementation

Teresa Iucci and Marco P.C. Marques

Process Biochemistry, 2026, 165, 169
DOI: 10.1016/j.procbio.2026.03.006

Endophytic fungi as biocontrol agents: A metabolite-driven approach to crop protection and sustainable agriculture

Muhammad Faiq, Amjad Ali, Shazia Shafique, Sobiya Shafique, Allah Rakha Yaseen, Rimsha Fatima, Muhammad Tanveer Altaf and Faheem Shehzad Baloch

Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology, 2025, 140, 102857
DOI: 10.1016/j.pmpp.2025.102857

Protein Engineering of Biosynthetic Enzymes Unlocks Libraries of Bioactive Tilimycin Analogs

Monica R. MacDonald, James Hasselbeck and Andrew M. Gulick

ACS Catal., 2025, 15, 17801
DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.5c05921

Recent Advances in Cofactor Engineering Applied to Modulate Esters or Higher Alcohols in Fermented Beverages of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Kun-Qiang Hong, Xiao-Meng Fu, Xi-Yu Shu, Zi-Zhen Liu, Yi-Jia Wang and Zhi-Jian Tan

Fermentation, 2026, 12, 165
DOI: 10.3390/fermentation12030165

Filamentous fungal synthetic biology: Current applications and ongoing developments

Richard A. Hill

Biotechnology Advances, 2026, 90, 108912
DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2026.108912

Progress and Challenges in the Biosynthesis and Chemical Synthesis of Lasso Peptides

Bhavesh Khatri, Travis Lay and David J. Craik

J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2026, 148, 4777
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c10593

Antifungal Indole Diketopiperazines From Aspergillus fumigatus

Xupei Men, Hongyan Zhang, Ziyu Hu, Yaning Su, Yuexun Luo, Donglin Liu, Chenhui Zhang, Tianxiang Zhang, Ziheng Jing, Chenxiao Guo, Fang Wang, Jun Zhang and Du‐Qiang Luo

Chemistry & Biodiversity, 2026, 23
DOI: 10.1002/cbdv.71161

Bioengineered Silver Nanoparticles: Next-Generation Biogenic Synthesis Strategies for Precision Biomedical Applications

Mythileeswari Lakshmikanthan, Sakthivel Muthu and Indra Neel Pulidindi

Bioengineering, 2026, 13, 587
DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering13050587

Precision-engineered starch: Integrating metabolic engineering and cell-free synthetic biology for sustainable bioplastics and functional foods

V.J. Sangeetha, Prashant Anil Pawase, S.S. Vasanthkumar, Sumanth Suresh Patrimath and Omar Bashir

Carbohydrate Polymers, 2026, 381, 125146
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2026.125146