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Updated: May 15, 2026

A Customizable Approach for the Enzymatic Production and Purification of Diterpenoid Natural Products
Published on: October 4, 2019
Complexity generation in fungal peptidyl alkaloid biosynthesis: a two-enzyme pathway to the hexacyclic MDR export
Stuart W Haynes1, Xue Gao, Yi Tang
1Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, 240 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Abstract:
Ardeemins are hexacyclic peptidyl alkaloids isolated from Aspergillus fischeri as agents that block efflux of anticancer drugs by MultiDrug Resistance (MDR) export pumps. To evaluate the biosynthetic logic and enzymatic machinery for ardeemin framework assembly, we sequenced the A. fischeri genome and identified the ardABC gene cluster. Through both genetic deletions and biochemical characterizations of purified ArdA and ArdB we show this ArdAB enzyme pair is sufficient to convert anthranilate (Ant), L-Ala, and L-Trp to ardeemin. ArdA is a 430 kDa trimodular nonribosomal peptide synthase (NRPS) that converts the three building blocks into a fumiquinazoline (FQ) regioisomer termed ardeemin FQ. ArdB is a prenyltransferase that takes tricyclic ardeemin FQ and dimethylallyl diphosphate to the hexacyclic ardeemin scaffold via prenylation at C2 of the Trp-derived indole moiety with intramolecular capture by an amide NH of the fumiquinazoline ring. The two-enzyme ArdAB pathway reveals remarkable efficiency in construction of the hexacyclic peptidyl alkaloid scaffold.
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Aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase) is a cytosolic enzyme that catalyzes the condensation of L-aspartate and carbamoyl phosphate to N-carbamoyl-L-aspartate. This reaction is the first step in pyrimidine biosynthesis. UTP and CTP, the end products of the pyrimidine synthesis pathway,...
Repressible Operon: trp Operon