[Biosynthesis of simvastatin--a mini-review].

Simvastatin, a semisynthetic derivertive of lovastatin, is an important drug for the treatment of hypercholesteromia, and is traditionally prepared by direct alkylation of lovastatin. Chemical reaction conditons are very rigid, and the final product is difficult to purify, also the pressure of labor protection and environment protection is very high. Recently, with the devolpement in the research of lovastatin biosynthesis, more and more attention has been paid to simvastatin biosynthesis. This paper compared the chemical and biological routes in simvastatin production. Simvastatin could be produced by direct fermentation with combinational biosynthesis method, and could also be synthesized from monacolin J with acyltransferase LovD.