title: Recent efforts in engineering microbial cells to produce new chemical compounds.
abstract: In the process of evolution, variation and combination of basic building blocks has led to an astonishing wealth of secondary metabolites. Recently, the same evolutionary tools have been used to create novel compounds that have not been found in nature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology & Biophysics, University of Minnesota, 1479 Gortner Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USA.
authors.forename: Arjo L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: de Boer
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schmidt-Dannert
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism*; D019020:Directed Molecular Evolution; D005818:Genetic Engineering