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Hereditas(Beijing) ›› 2018, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (10): 888-899.doi: 10.16288/j.yczz. 18-194

• Reviews • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Avermectins, intelligently made in China

Ying Wen1(),Lixin Zhang2()   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
    2. State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
  • Received:2018-07-10 Revised:2018-09-13 Online:2018-10-20 Published:2018-10-26
  • Supported by:
    the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31430002);the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31320103911);the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31500690);the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31670052);the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31600017);the National Key Research And Development Program of China(2017YFD0201207);the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(22221818014);the Major Basic Program of the Natural science Foundation of Shandong Province(ZR2017ZB0206);the Shandong Taishan Scholar Program of China for L.Z.

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Abstract:

Avermectins, are pesticides of fermentation products with high efficacy and low toxicity and play important roles in food and agricultural product safety, animal and human health. Ivermectins, the derivatives of avermectins, are used to treat Onchocerciasis, also known as River Blindness. Thanks to these discoveries, more than 200 million Africans are lucky to be exempted from blindness. Great efforts have been made on better understanding of the microbial production system of avermectins through genetic engineering in China. Starting from scratch, Chinese avermectin industry has experienced a comprehensive technological innovation with significantly improved yield, titer and productivity of avermectins, and became the exclusive supplier for the global market. The success of avermectin industry innovation in China not only shed lights on the intelligent yield improvement of other microbial natural product drugs, but also gained wide international recognition. We provide here an overview of the discovery and development of basic and applied research of avermectins, especially historical evolution of avermectins made in China, which will benefit industrial development of microbial drugs in China.

Key words: avermectins, ivermectins, genetic engineering, yield improvement