Polyketide synthase recombinant

R Pieper, G Luo, DE Cane, C Khosla. Cell-free biosynthesis of polyketides by recombinant erythromycin polyketide synthases. Nature 378 263-266, 1995. 

Figure 3. Polyketide synthase substrate specificity. Structures are shown for some of the substrates usedfor determining specificity of recombinant S. bicolor...

The starter unit represents an attractive site in the aromatic polyketide scaffold for introducing alternative chemical functionalities. Most aromatic polyketide synthases (PKSs) are primed by acetate through the decarboxylative condensation of malonyl-ACP. Nonacetate-primed PKSs have been sequenced and characterized. Precursor-directed biosynthesis and heterologous recombination of initiation and elongation modules have led to the engineered biosynthesis of completely new aromatic polyketide scaffolds containing novel starter units, as well as the regioselective modification of known aromatic polyketides. 

Modular PKSs are large multifunctional enzymes. Active sites (domains) within these enzymes ketosynthases (KS), acyltransferases (AT), dehydratases (DH), enoyl reductases (ER), ketoreductases (KR), acyl carrier proteins (AGP) and thioesterases (TE) are organized into modules such that each module catalyzes the stereospecific addition of a new monomer onto a growing polyketide chain and also sets the reduction level of the carbon atoms of the resulting intermediate [70]. In 1994, the heterologous expression of the complete erythromycin polyketide synthase was accomplished. The recombinant... 

C domains can display functions that deviate from typical amide bond formation. Several C domains are postulated to act as ester synthases, catalyzing ester formation instead of amide formation. NRPS modules containing C domains that display this activity are present in the biosynthetic pathways for the kutznerides, cryptophycins, " cereulide, valinomycin, hectochlorin, and beauvericin. Each of these C domains likely utilizes a PCP-bound a-hydroxyl acceptor in the condensation reaction. Another NRPS C domain that catalyzes ester bond formation is involved in the biosynthesis of the polyketide-derived mycotoxins known as the fiimonisins. Du and coworkers have shown that a recombinant PCP-C didomain of an NRPS involved in the biosynthetic pathway of the fnmonisins can catalyze ester bond formation between hydroxyfumonisins and the A-acetylcysteamine thioester of tricarballylic acid, even though PCP-bound tricarballylic acid is not... 

Cell-free systems capable of in vitro synthesis of 6-methylsalicylic acid (6-MS A) and a related tetraketide, orsellinic acid, were developed long before the advent of recombinant DNA technologies in the field of natural product biosynthesis [113-115] (Fig. 5). Since then, the biosynthetic mechanisms and molecular recognition features of 6-methylsalicylic acid synthase (6-MSAS) have been extensively studied. 6-MSAS initiates synthesis with an acetyl group derived from acetyl Co A, extends the polyketide chain to a tetraketide via three decar-boxylative condensations of malonyl CoA-derived extender units, and uses NADPH to specifically reduce one of resulting carbonyls to a hydroxyl group. In its natural producer, Penicillium patulum, the product, 6-MSA is subsequently glycosylated to form the antibiotic patulin [116]. 

---