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Updated: Mar 31, 2026

From a Natural Product to Its Biosynthetic Gene Cluster: A Demonstration Using Polyketomycin from Streptomyces diastatochromogenes Tü6028
Published on: January 13, 2017
Polyketide synthase chimeras reveal key role of ketosynthase domain in chain branching
Srividhya Sundaram1, Daniel Heine1, Christian Hertweck1,2
1Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (HKI), Jena, Germany.
Abstract:
Biosynthesis of rhizoxin in Burkholderia rhizoxinica affords an unusual polyketide synthase module with ketosynthase and branching domains that install the δ-lactone, conferring antimitotic activity. To investigate their functions in chain branching, we designed chimeric modules with structurally similar domains from a glutarimide-forming module and a dehydratase. Biochemical, kinetic and mutational analyses reveal a structural role of the accessory domains and multifarious catalytic actions of the ketosynthase.
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