Control mechanisms precursor substrate activation

The aim of biosynthetic experiments with fungal metabolites is to establish the structure of the building blocks, the order in which they are assembled, the way in which chains are folded to form the carbon skeleton and the sequence interrelating precursors with the final metabolite. Biosynthesis is concerned with both sequences and reaction mechanisms. The sequence of the biosynthetic events, the role of intermediates and the stereochemistry of enzymatic reactions can be studied with appropriately isotopically-labelled substrates and with structural analogues of the natural intermediates. The chemical enzymology of individual steps and the role of key components and structures of the enzyme may be studied with isolated enzyme systems obtained from fungi. The features that determine the function of the enzyme and which control its activity may be determined by genetic studies in which mutants play an important role. 

Compounds that act as allosteric activators of enzymes are often precursors of the pathway, so this is a mechanism for feed-forward activation, increasing the activity of a controlling enzyme in anticipation of increased availability of substrate. 

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