Substrate specificity of a ketosynthase domain involved in bacillaene biosynthesis

• Zhiyong Yin and
• Jeroen S. Dickschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 734–740, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.67

• (PKS). The type I of these enzymes are megasynthases composed of several catalytically active domains that can either act iteratively with the same set of domains catalysing the incorporation of several extender units into a growing polyketide chain, or non-iteratively with one set of domains acting

Enzymes in biosynthesis

• Jeroen S. Dickschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1131–1132, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.116

• proceed through multistep cationic cascade reactions and usually produce a polycyclic terpene hydrocarbon or alcohol with multiple stereogenic centers. While these transformations require only a single enzyme, polyketide and nonribosomal peptide biosyntheses are catalyzed by megasynthases that follow an

• factories is easier to read than for terpene synthases, the functions of which are difficult to predict, but their size makes the megasynthases much more difficult to handle in the laboratory. Besides these core enzymes of the biosynthetic machineries to some of the most important classes of natural

Strategies in megasynthase engineering – fatty acid synthases (FAS) as model proteins

• Manuel Fischer and
• Martin Grininger

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1204–1211, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.119

• Megasynthases are large multienzyme proteins that produce a plethora of important natural compounds by catalyzing the successive condensation and modification of precursor units. Within the class of megasynthases, polyketide synthases (PKS) are responsible for the production of a large spectrum of bioactive

• polyketides (PK), which have frequently found their way into therapeutic applications. Rational engineering approaches have been performed during the last 25 years that seek to employ the “assembly-line synthetic concept” of megasynthases in order to deliver new bioactive compounds. Here, we highlight PKS

• engineering strategies in the light of the newly emerging structural information on megasynthases, and argue that fatty acid synthases (FAS) are and will be valuable objects for further developing this field. Keywords: fatty acid synthases; megasynthases; metabolic enzyme engineering; polyketide synthases

Cyclisation mechanisms in the biosynthesis of ribosomally synthesised and post-translationally modified peptides

• Andrew W. Truman

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 1250–1268, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.120

• predictably than molecules made from multi-domain megasynthases such as polyketides and non-ribosomal peptides. Cyclisation is a common post-translational modification in RiPP pathways and includes a multitude of transformations. These modifications are usually essential for the proper biological activity of

Novel fatty acid methyl esters from the actinomycete Micromonospora aurantiaca

• Jeroen S. Dickschat,
• Hilke Bruns and
• Ramona Riclea

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2011, 7, 1697–1712, doi:10.3762/bjoc.7.200

• of bacterial cell membranes can be tuned, e.g., by the introduction of methyl branches or olefinic double bonds [1]. The biosynthesis of FAs is a repetitive chain elongation process catalysed in animals and fungi by multifunctional megasynthases, and in plants or bacteria by a set of discrete enzymes

Biosynthesis and function of secondary metabolites

• Jeroen S. Dickschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2011, 7, 1620–1621, doi:10.3762/bjoc.7.190

• , e.g., of oxidation states of the natural product’s carbon backbone by simple domain knockouts within the responsible megasynthases, or the introduction of a variety of alternative biosynthetic starters by mutasynthesis approaches, thus leading to new variants of known metabolites, which may have