Discovery of Latent Cannabichromene Cyclase Activity in Marine Bacterial Flavoenzymes.

Production of phytocannabinoids remains an area of active scientific interest due to the growing use of cannabis by the public and the underexplored therapeutic potential of the over 100 minor cannabinoids. While phytocannabinoids are biosynthesized by and other select plants and fungi, structural analogs and stereoisomers can only be accessed synthetically or through heterologous expression. To date, the bioproduction of cannabinoids has required eukaryotic hosts like yeast since key, native oxidative cyclization enzymes do not express well in bacterial hosts.