Microbial synthesis of cordycepin, current systems and future perspectives

Cordycepin is one of the nucleoside compounds with various nutraceutical and health-promoting functions, which makes it widely used in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical fields. Traditionally, cordycepin is mainly extracted from the natural fruiting bodies of Cordyceps spp.. However, the collection of natural Cordyceps will lead to the depletion of wild resources and the decline of biodiversity, as well as damage to the local fragile ecological environment. This review provides the microbial resources of cordycepin and introduces the relationship between key metabolic pathways, transcription factors, and cordycepin biosynthesis in artificial cultured cordycepin-producing strains. In addition, the methods of strain improvement and genetic engineering to increase cordycepin production were reviewed, and the possibility of using synthetic biology to construct cell factories to increase cordycepin production was discussed. The analysis of the cordycepin biosynthesis pathway in fungi is of great guiding significance for the improvement of cordycepin production capacity. The construction of cell factories using synthetic biology and systematic metabolic engineering can be used as a green and energy-saving alternative method for the industrial production of cordycepin.