ABSTRACT
Plant alkaloids are a large group of natural compounds with wide-ranging bioactive characteristics, but the number of alkaloids obtained from the plant is low. Mass extraction of these bioactive alkaloids is affected by the trouble in large-scale propagation of these plants and absence of efficient strategies for extraction. However, production by chemical reactions is a substitute method; it is less effective due to its highly complex structure. The extensive study of alkaloid biosynthesis in plants and the advancement of genetic and metabolic engineering techniques enabled the opportunity to synthesise alkaloids through microbial hosts via metabolic engineering and bioprocess optimisations. In this chapter, we discuss the various gene-manipulation strategies to produce alkaloids in various microbial hosts and their application in the healthcare industry.
