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Chinese yeast engineered to mass-produce cancer drug precursor
The approach targets vinblastine production limits by engineering brewer’s yeast to produce catharanthine at 164.9 milligrams per liter inside a fermenter, nearly 1,000 times higher than previously published figures.
Chinese researchers say they have engineered brewer’s yeast to produce a key precursor for vinblastine, a chemotherapy drug long sourced exclusively from the Madagascar periwinkle plant, aiming to ease chronic supply and cost constraints. SCMP Economy reports that vinblastine scarcity has persisted for decades because it takes about 2 tonnes of dried leaves to yield just 1 gram of the drug, a scale that has kept it more expensive than gold by weight.
According to the report, a team led by Zhejiang University professor Lian Jiazhang, working with researchers at the University of New Brunswick in Canada and Westlake University, engineered yeast to generate catharanthine, the direct precursor to vinblastine, inside a fermenter. The researchers said they achieved production of 164.9 milligrams per liter, or 0.022 ounces per gallon, which the outlet notes is nearly 1,000 times higher than any previously published global figure.
SCMP Economy also cited the publication timeline, saying the findings appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Science and were released as a first version on July 16. The foundation for the work goes back to 2022, when the team inserted a 30-step vinblastine synthesis pathway into yeast, but earlier output remained at micrograms per liter before later advances.
The outlet said the breakthrough hinged on overcoming a bottleneck tied to the cell’s internal structure, specifically that one intermediate in the pathway is highly unstable. In a video from the ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Centre, Lian attributed the earlier limitation to that instability.
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