Biotransformation of Steroids: Accelerating Discovery of New Drugs in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Natural products account for 60% of the total market, making them a major source of drug discovery. Some of these are sourced from the cultivation of microorganisms. Microbial transformation is an example of the application of the cultivation of microorganisms. It is a method of modifying the chemical structure of compounds such as steroids by microorganisms. The diversity of the possible reaction types in microbial transformation includes the process of oxidation, hydroxylation, esterification, isomerization, reduction, acetylation, hydrogenation and glycosylation. Therefore, screening of new microbial strains for specific bioconversions is essential for bioprospecting. This chapter reviews a range of previous studies that have used fungi for biotransformation.