Vinigrol Tricyclic Scaffold Biosynthesis Employs an Atypical Terpene Cyclase and a Multipotent Cyclization Cascade

Vinigrol (1) is a fungal diterpenoid consisting of a decahydro-1,5-butanonaphthalene ring system with no analogs in nature. Despite immense efforts in synthetic studies, the vinigrol biosynthesis pathway remains largely unknown. Herein, we identified a biosynthetic gene cluster for 1 and fully elucidated the biosynthetic pathway. By employing an AlphaFold-generated model structure, we identified the possible catalytic residues of the noncanonical terpene cyclase and analyzed their function by site-directed mutagenesis. We found that the G340A mutation opened a cryptic pathway for an unprecedented tetracyclic diterpene, defined here as virgarene. Retro-biosynthetic theoretical analysis provided a solid foundation for the complex cyclization pathway for the vinigrol scaffold, its chemical transformation to a structurally distinct bonnadiene, and redirection of the enzymatic cyclization cascade to virgarene. Close inspection of the terpene cyclization pathway via integrated experimental and theoretical approaches would allow efficient exploration of novel terpenoid chemistries.