Four unreported aromatic polyketides CA049 A-D (1–4) were discovered in Streptomyces sp. HDN154049 through CdgB overexpression, an enzyme involved in c-di-GMP biosynthesis. Among them, compound 1 cont...

Covering: 2005 to July 2025Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), emerging as one of the most common multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial strains, has posed a serious threat to global heal...

Microbial polyketides represent a structurally diverse class of secondary metabolites with medicinally relevant properties. Aromatic polyketides are produced by type II polyketide synthase (PKS) syste...

Here, the authors establish and validate two black yeasts as heterologous hosts for fungal polyketide discovery and production, combining the metabolic robustness of filamentous Aspergillus species wi...

Nature Chemical Biology - Redesigning polyketide biosynthesis to either derivatize polyketides or develop new ones is highly desirable, but engineered pathways usually suffer from low product...

Covering: up to 2024.For many years, the value of complex polyketides lay in their medical properties, including their antibiotic and antifungal activities, with little consideration paid to their nat...

Fungal natural products, including polyketides, are a rich source of bioactive molecules. Their biosynthetic enzymes are encoded within biosynthetic gene clusters, which are often activated by specifi...

Here, the authors establish and validate two black yeasts as heterologous hosts for fungal polyketide discovery and production, combining the metabolic robustness of filamentous Aspergillus species wi...

Microbial polyketides represent a structurally diverse class of secondary metabolites with medicinally relevant properties. Aromatic polyketides are produced by type II polyketide synthase (PKS) syste...

In natural chemical mixtures, a few molecules matter far more than their abundance suggests. Two recent studies identify defensive polyketides in estuarine mudflats and root exudate metabolites in a nitrogen-limited rhizosphere as compounds that restructure communities at trace concentrations, providing convergent evidence for candidate keystone molecules at the molecular scale.

As part of our long-standing program evaluating the biosynthetic complexity and biomedical potential of natural products from marine microbes, our attention was drawn to culture extracts from a Verruc...

Fungi produce numerous low molecular weight molecules endowed with a multitude of biological activities. However, mining the full-genome sequences ...

Fungal natural products, including polyketides, are a rich source of bioactive molecules. Their biosynthetic enzymes are encoded within biosynthetic gene clusters, which are often activated by specifi...

Fungal polyketides represent a treasure trove of industrially relevant compounds, yet sustainable high-level production can be challenging. Black yeasts have emerged as promising heterologous hosts fo...

Read the full paper: Marine-Derived Polyketides from Penicillium sp. Enhance Cutaneous Wound Healing through Metabolic and Regenerative Signaling

Covering: up to 2024. For many years, the value of complex polyketides lay in their medical properties, including their antibiotic and antifungal activities, with little consideration paid to their…

Here, the authors establish and validate two black yeasts as heterologous hosts for fungal polyketide discovery and production, combining the metabolic robustness of filamentous Aspergillus species wi...

Modular polyketide synthases (PKSs) are multidomain, assembly line enzymes that biosynthesize complex antibiotics such as erythromycin and rapamycin. The modular characteristic of PKSs makes them an ideal platform for the custom production of designer polyketides by combinatorial biosynthesis. However, engineered hybrid PKS pathways often exhibit severe loss of enzyme activity, and a general principle for PKS reprogramming has not been established. Here we present a widely applicable strategy for designing hybrid PKSs. We reveal that two conserved motifs are robust cut sites to connect modules from different PKS pathways and demonstrate the custom production of polyketides with different starter units, extender units and variable reducing states. Furthermore, we expand the applicability of these cut sites to construct hybrid pathways involving cis-AT PKS, trans-AT PKS and even nonribosomal peptide synthetase. Collectively, our findings enable plug-and-play reprogramming of modular PKSs