Biomanufacturing of melatonin is now possible

Currently, the majority of the melatonin manufactured is chemically synthesized replacing the previous method that extracted it from biological materials. Due to environmental concerns, biomanufacturing of chemical-related products is now gaining favor over chemical synthesis. Melatonin is synthesized from tryptophan in a four-step pathway that includes a hydroxylase and methyl transferase, both representing major challenges for metabolic engineering. Using novel technologies, including genome editing and laboratory evolution, the metabolic pathway of melatonin synthesis has been reconstructed in a microbial host which has the capacity to produce melatonin in gram-level quantities.