Synthetic Biology of Ginsenosides

Ginsenosides, a group of triterpenoid saponins, are the signature compounds from plants in the genus Panax. Ginsenosides display a variety of pharmaceutical activities and have potential applications in various fields such as medicine, food, and cosmetics. However, the contents of these compounds, especially rare ginsenosides, are extremely low in Panax plants. Current approaches for the manufacture of ginsenosides mainly rely on the extraction of total saponins from Panax plants, followed by biological or chemical deglycosylation; such methods are high cost with low efficiency and are difficult to scale up. In recent decades, major developments have been achieved in synthetic biology, and many successful cases of the production of natural products via synthetic biology approaches have been reported. These studies demonstrate that synthetic biology provides potential alternative methods for the manufacture of ginsenosides. In this chapter, we briefly review ginsenoside bioactivity, chemical structure, and traditional methods of their manufacture, with a focus on tracing the recent progress of synthetic biology for ginsenoside production, including the elucidation of biosynthetic pathways and construction of cell factories for both natural and non-natural ginsenosides.