Bioinformatics, biosynthetic gene

To gain primary insights about structural features of a metabolic product encoded by a biosynthetic assembly line, bioinformatics analysis can be very helpful 8,24). The procedure can allow the prediction of putative physico-chemical properties of the putative metabolic product encoded, for example, by a cryptic biosynthetic gene cluster 138). The prediction assists in choosing adequate fermentation conditions... 

The exploitation of medicinal plants for metabolic engineering of undiscovered metabolites and metabolic pathways is still at its infancy and is likely to require the initial investment of molecular markers to provide plant genotype fingerprints followed by bioactivity guided fractionation to identify the target molecule(s) and further basic studies (precursor feeding, bioinformatics approaches to identify genes) to elucidate the relevant biosynthetic pathways. 

Although bioinformatics analysis failed to yield clues for the biosynthetic origin of 2-aza-L-tyrosine, the authors proposed that the 18-gene type II PKS locus could play a role in such a biosynthesis and envisaged 2-aza-L-phenylalanine, either free or tethered to a carrier protein, as a penultimate intermediate of the pathway. Hydroxyla-tion of 2-aza-L-phenylalanine, catalyzed by KedY, a FAD-dependent monooxygenase requiring the KedE6 flavin reductase, finally affords 2-aza-L-tyrosine [331]. 

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