Versatility of polyketide synthases in generating metabolic diversity

Polyketide synthases (PKSs) form a large family of multifunctional proteins involved in the biosynthesis of diverse classes of natural products. Architecturally at least three different types of PKSs have been discovered in the microbial world and recent years have revealed tremendous versatility of PKSs, both in terms of their structural and functional organization and in their ability to produce compounds other than typical secondary metabolites. Mycobacterium tuberculosis exploits polyketide biosynthetic enzymes to synthesize complex lipids, many of which are essential for its survival. The functional significance of the large repertoire of PKSs in Dictyostelium discoideum, perhaps in producing developmental regulating factors, is emerging. Recently determined structures of fatty acid synthases (FASs) and PKSs now provide an opportunity to delineate the mechanistic and structural basis of polyketide biosynthetic machinery.