Cytochrome P450-Catalyzed Hydroxylation Initiating Ether Formation in Platensimycin Biosynthesis

Platensimycin (PTM) and platencin (PTN) are potent and selective inhibitors of bacterial and mammalian fatty acid synthases. The regio- and stereospecificity of the ether oxygen atom in PTM, which PTN does not have, strongly contribute to the selectivity and potency of PTM. We previously reported the biosynthetic origin of the 11 S,16 S-ether moiety by characterizing the diterpene synthase PtmT3 as a (16 R)- ent-kauran-16-ol synthase and isolating 11-deoxy-16 R-hydroxylated congeners of PTM from the Δ ptmO5 mutant. PtmO5, a cytochrome P450, was proposed to catalyze formation of the ether moiety in PTM. Here we report the in vitro characterization of PtmO5, revealing that PtmO5 stereoselectively hydroxylates the C-11 position of the ent-kaurane scaffold resulting in an 11 S,16 R-diol intermediate. The ether moiety, the oxygen of which originates from the P450-catalyzed hydroxylation at C-11, is formed via cyclization of the diol intermediate. This study provides mechanistic insight into ether formation in natural product biosynthetic pathways.