Comparative Analysis of the Substrate Specificity of trans- versus cis-Acyltransferases of Assembly Line Polyketide Synthases

Due to their pivotal role in extender unit selection during polyketide biosynthesis, acyltransferase (AT) domains are important engineering targets. A subset of assembly line polyketide synthases (PKSs) are serviced by discrete, trans-acting ATs. Theoretically, these trans-ATs can complement an inactivated cis-AT, promoting introduction of a noncognate extender unit. This approach requires a better understanding of the substrate specificity and catalytic mechanism of naturally occurring trans-ATs. We kinetically analyzed trans-ATs from the disorazole and kirromycin synthases and compared them to a representative cis-AT from the 6-deoxyerythronolide B synthase (DEBS). During transacylation, the disorazole AT favored malonyl-CoA over methylmalonyl-CoA by >40000-fold, whereas the kirromycin AT favored ethylmalonyl-CoA over methylmalonyl-CoA by 20-fold. Conversely, the disorazole AT had broader specificity than its kirromycin counterpart for acyl carrier protein (ACP) substrates. The presence of the ACP had little effect on the specificity (k(cat)/K(M)) of the cis-AT domain for carboxyacyl-CoA substrates but had a marked influence on the corresponding specificity parameters for the trans-ATs, suggesting that these enzymes do not act strictly by a canonical ping-pong mechanism. To investigate the relevance of the kinetic analysis of isolated ATs in the context of intact PKSs, we complemented an in vitro AT-null DEBS assembly line with either trans-AT. Whereas the disorazole AT efficiently complemented the mutant PKS at substoichiometric protein ratios, the kirromycin AT was considerably less effective. Our findings suggest that knowledge of both carboxyacyl-CoA and ACP specificity is critical to the choice of a trans-AT in combination with a mutant PKS to generate novel polyketides.