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Updated: May 15, 2026

Mass Spectrometry-Guided Genome Mining as a Tool to Uncover Novel Natural Products
Published on: March 12, 2020
A genomic approach to the cryptic secondary metabolome of the anaerobic world
Anne-Catrin Letzel1, Sacha J Pidot, Christian Hertweck
1Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology HKI, Beutenbergstr. 11a, Jena, 07745, Germany.
Abstract:
A total of 211 complete and published genomes from anaerobic bacteria are analysed for the presence of secondary metabolite biosynthesis gene clusters, in particular those tentatively coding for polyketide synthases (PKS) and non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS). We investigate the distribution of these gene clusters according to bacterial phylogeny and, if known, correlate these to the type of metabolic pathways they encode. The potential of anaerobes as secondary metabolite producers is highlighted.
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