Scyllo-Inositol, a Therapeutic Agent for Alzheimer’s Disease

An inositol stereoisomer, scyllo-inositol (SI), has been regarded as a promising therapeutic agent for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), because it is an orally available natural compound that penetrates into the brain and coats the surface of amyloid β-proteins (Aβ) to inhibit their lateral stacking into toxic amyloid fibrils. SI is relatively rare in nature, and we developed a Bacillus subtilis cell factory for the efficient production of SI from abundant myo-inositol (MI).