A filamentous fungus, Aspergillus nidulans, produces the carcinogenic mycotoxin sterigmatocystin (ST), which is a polyketide-derived secondary metabolite. A gene (pksST) encoding the ST polyketide synthase (PKSst) in A. nidulans was cloned, sequenced, and characterized. Large induced deletion mutants, which did not make ST or any ST intermediates, were used to identify genes associated with ST ...

The multifunctional 6-methylsalicylic acid synthase gene from Penicillium patulum was engineered for regulated expression in Streptomyces coelicolor. Production of significant amounts of 6-methylsalicylic acid by the recombinant strain was proven by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. These results suggest that it is possible to harness the molecular diversity of eukaryotic polyketide path...

A filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans produces a mycotoxin sterigmatocystin (ST), in addition to other secondary metabolites (SMs). SM biosynthetic pathways share common precursor substances. However, how the loss of one affects production SMs remains unclear. In this study, we deleted 8 gene clusters (BGCs) or polyketide synthase wA, respectively, and analyzed ST those deletion strains. au...

Oxytetracycline is a polyketide antibiotic made by Streptomyces rimosus. From DNA sequencing, the gene product of otcD1 is deduced to function as a bifunctional cyclase/aromatase involved in ring closure of the polyketide backbone. Although otcD1 is contiguous with the ketoreductase gene, they are located an unusually large distance from the genes encoding the "minimal polyketide synthase" of t...

Eucalyptus species synthesize a wealth of polyketide natural products, but no relevant biosynthetic enzyme has been identified. Degenerate primers designed from conserved regions of fourteen chalcone synthase superfamily enzymes were used to isolate gene fragments from at least five different Type III polyketide synthases (PKSs) in E. camaldulensis and E. robusta.

As products of genome mining, the stereochemical assignment macrolide antibiotics stambomycins A–D has been made on basis sequence analysis associated polyketide synthase, aside from...

The assembly-line synthases that produce bacterial polyketide natural products follow a modular paradigm in which each round of chain extension is catalysed by a different set or module of enzymes. Examples of deviation from this paradigm, in which a module catalyses either multiple extensions or none are of interest from both a mechanistic and an evolutionary viewpoint. We present evidence tha...

Here we report the draft genome sequence of Nocardiopsis sp. strain TP-A0876, isolated from marine sediment, which produces polyketide-derived pyrones called nocapyrones. The genome contains three polyketide synthase (PKS) gene clusters, one of which was proposed to be responsible for nocapyrone biosynthesis. This genome sequence will facilitate the study of the potential for secondary metaboli...

Here, we report the draft genome sequence of Microbispora sp. GMKU 363, a plant-derived actinomycete that produces linfuranone A, a linear polyketide modified with a furanone ring possessing adipocyte differentiation inducing activity. The biosynthetic gene cluster for linfuranone was identified by analyzing polyketide synthase genes in the genome.

Salinipyrones and pacificanones are structurally related polyketides from Salinispora pacifica CNS-237 that are proposed to arise from the same modular polyketide synthase (PKS) assembly line. Genome sequencing revealed a large macrolide PKS gene cluster that codes for the biosynthesis of rosamicin A and a series of new macrolide antibiotics. Mutagenesis experiments unexpectedly correlated sali...