Antibiofilm and cytotoxic metabolites from the entomopathogenic fungus Samsoniella aurantia

• Rita Toshe,
• Syeda J. Khalid,
• Blondelle Matio Kemkuignou,
• Esteban Charria-Girón,
• Paul Eckhardt,
• Birthe Sandargo,
• Kunlapat Nuchthien,
• J. Jennifer Luangsa-ard,
• Till Opatz,
• Hedda Schrey,
• Sherif S. Ebada and
• Marc Stadler

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 327–339, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.23

• (PKS–NRPS) [13]. Based on the structural relations between farinosones and tenellins differing only in the side chain length/the number of conjugated double bonds, farinosones were also postulated to be synthesized adopting a similar biosynthetic pathway. The biosynthesis of farinosones (Figure 4

• ) begins with an acetate moiety that is extended six times by HR-PKS, programmed C-methylations took place after the first and second extensions with a cycle of full reduction occurring after the first extension. Subsequently, four acetate extensions with programmed reductions and dehydrations to afford β

Chemical structure metagenomics of microbial natural products: surveying nonribosomal peptides and beyond

• Thomas Ma and
• John Chu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3050–3060, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.253

• basis of classification. TE sequence alignment guided by NRPs grouped based on one or more of the above topological features may yield key insights. Future directions 3: Chemical structure metagenomics of type I polyketides The two largest natural product families are NRP and polyketides (PKs) [81

• ]. Type I PKs are also constructed in a modular assembly line biosynthetic logic and may be amenable to chemical structure metagenomic approaches described herein [82]. In fact, the software suite antiSMASH can already predict the substrate specificity of individual polyketide synthase (PKS) modules, i.e

• support a Syn-BNP based PK discovery campaign. Future directions 4: Natural products with more complex biosynthetic logic Type I NRPs and PKs, as well as many sub-families of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs), are readily amenable to chemical structure metagenomics

Natural resorcylic lactones derived from alternariol

• Joachim Podlech

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2171–2207, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.187

• polyketide synthase (PKS) into account [25], since polyketides like zearalenone are synthesized by means of a type I PKS [22][26], while alternariol and its derivatives are likely to be obtained by catalysis with a PKS of type II [27] or possibly of type III [28]. However, no reliable information in this

Chemo-enzymatic total synthesis: current approaches toward the integration of chemical and enzymatic transformations

• Ryo Tanifuji and
• Hiroki Oguri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1693–1712, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.151

• biosynthetic pathway as proposed by Cox, based on bioinformatic analyses of polyketide synthase (PKS) modules and in vitro studies. Initially, highly reducing iterative polyketide synthase (HR-iPKS) SorbA forms the thioester 30 on its acyl carrier protein (ACP) domain from acetate and two units of malonyl-CoA

• carboxylic acids followed by intramolecular condensation. As a chemo-enzymatic complementary strategy, thioesterase (TE) domains of NRPS and PKS gene clusters have been utilized as enzymes for macrolactone formation to produce a wide range of natural/non-natural macrocyclic compounds [58][59][60][61][62][63

• ]. In the field of chemo-enzymatic total synthesis utilizing polyketide synthase (PKS)-related macrocyclization enzymes, Xiang and co-workers recently reported the total synthesis of cylindrocyclophanes [64]. The cyanobacterial non-canonical enzyme CylK, discovered and characterized by Balskus and co

Polymer degrading marine Microbulbifer bacteria: an un(der)utilized source of chemical and biocatalytic novelty

• Weimao Zhong and
• Vinayak Agarwal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1635–1651, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.146

• of 32 natural products, including NRPSs, PKS, parabens, and alkaloids, have been isolated and identified from Microbulbifer bacteria. Based on the growing genomic data, it is unquestionable that the Microbulbifer genus is an untapped resource for natural products. The number of molecules described

Bioinformatic prediction of the stereoselectivity of modular polyketide synthase: an update of the sequence motifs in ketoreductase domain

• Changjun Xiang,
• Shunyu Yao,
• Ruoyu Wang and
• Lihan Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1476–1485, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.131

• medicines such as erythromycin and rapamycin. They are often rich in stereocenters biosynthesized by the ketoreductase (KR) domain within the polyketide synthase (PKS) assembly line. Previous studies have identified conserved motifs in KR sequences that enable the bioinformatic prediction of product

• embedded in the assembly line or not. All cis-AT PKS modules contain a ketosynthase (KS), an acyltransferase (AT), and an acyl carrier protein (ACP) to produce β-keto-intermediates, and some modules contain additional β-processing domains such as ketoreductase (KR), dehydratase (DH), and enoylreductase (ER

• ) [3][4]. The building blocks for PKS biosynthesis often include malonyl-CoA or methylmalonyl-CoA, which are loaded onto the ACP by the AT domain. Subsequently, the KS domain catalyzes the decarboxylative Claisen condensation between the ACP-tethered extender unit and the KS-tethered growing chain. The

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

• compound is made through a trans-AT polyketide synthase–non-ribosomal peptide synthase (PKS-NRPS) hybrid [9][10]. Instead of using the classical domain organisation KS-AT-ACP with AT domains integrated into the PKS, trans-AT PKSs utilize discrete ATs that are not an integral part of the PKS, but rather

• cooperate with the PKS “in trans” [11][12]. Notably, in B. subtilis the giant bacillaene biosynthesis machinery forms an organelle-like complex that can be observed through cryoelectron microscopy [13]. The structure elucidation of “bacillaene” through extensive NMR spectroscopic methods revealed the

Chemoenzymatic synthesis of macrocyclic peptides and polyketides via thioesterase-catalyzed macrocyclization

• Senze Qiao,
• Zhongyu Cheng and
• Fuzhuo Li

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 721–733, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.66

• and multifunctional enzymatic assembly, nonribosomal peptide synthases (NRPS), polyketide synthases (PKS), and hybrid NRPS/PKS systems, which are organized into sets of functional domains known as modules and function through a similar mechanism [9][10][11][12]. Each NRPS module is composed of three

• essential domains, namely adenylation (A), condensation (C), and peptidyl carrier protein (PCP). Each type I PKS module consists of three core domains containing acyltransferase (AT), ketosynthase (KS), and acyl carrier protein (ACP). PCP and ACP are collectively called thiolation domain (T). The sequence

• responsible for the structural diversity of natural products, both NRPS and PKS contain thioesterase (TE) domains in the final elongation module, which contribute to terminating biosynthesis [13][14]. Typically, TE domains cleave the thioester bond between the last PCP or ACP domain and the intermediate of

New variochelins from soil-isolated Variovorax sp. H002

• Jabal Rahmat Haedar,
• Aya Yoshimura and
• Toshiyuki Wakimoto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 692–700, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.63

• draft genome sequence of the H002 strain identified the variochelin biosynthetic gene cluster (var), which encodes PKS (polyketide synthase) and NRPS (non-ribosomal peptide synthetase) genes. Finally, the siderophores isolated in this study exhibited antibacterial activity against several bacteria

• , we also identified a var gene cluster containing NRPS and PKS genes: the domain organizations of NRPS and PKS, and the adjacently encoded modification enzymes, were comparable to those of the gene cluster reported by Nett et al. with 92–99% identity at the protein level [5] (Figure 3a and Figure S42

• in Supporting Information File 1). To investigate whether the identified var biosynthetic gene cluster is responsible for variochelin production, we substituted varG encoding the polyketide synthase (PKS) module with a chloramphenicol resistance (cmR) gene cassette, using homologous recombination

Chemical and biosynthetic potential of Penicillium shentong XL-F41

• Ran Zou,
• Xin Li,
• Xiaochen Chen,
• Yue-Wei Guo and
• Baofu Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 597–606, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.52

• version of antiSMASH 7.0 [25] software for the analysis of the Penicillium shentong XL-F41 genome, we identified 46 BGCs. These include 13 NRPS-like fragments, 6 NRPS, 13 type I PKS, 2 PKS/NRPS hybrids, 1 NI-siderophore, 2 NRP-metallophore/NRPS hybrids, 1 fungal RiPP with POP or UstH peptidase types, 1

• fungal-RiPP-like/T1PKS, 1 betalactone, 1 PKS type I/NRPS/indole hybrid, 1 fungal-RiPP-like/T1PKS hybrid, 1 NRP-metallophore/NRPS hybrid, NRPS-like/terpene/phosphonate hybrids, 3 terpenes, and 1 indole-related cluster (Table 5). BGC 7.3, identified as an indole-type gene cluster, includes genes for

Recent developments in the engineered biosynthesis of fungal meroterpenoids

• Zhiyang Quan and
• Takayoshi Awakawa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 578–588, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.50

• metabolic genes for ease of gene transfer and high substance production capabilities [10][11]. The expression of trt4 (polyketide synthase, PKS), trt2 (prenyltransferase, PT), trt5 (methyltransferase, MT), trt8 (flavin-dependent monooxygenase, FMO), and trt1 (meroterpenoid cyclase, CYC) in A. oryzae NSAR1

• , the combinatorial biosynthesis of diterpene pyrones, derived from a pyrone skeleton and a C20 terpenoid skeleton, has been achieved by combining multiple biosynthetic pathways in a fungal heterologous expression host [16]. First, subA (PKS), subC (PT), subD (GGPP synthase), subE (FMO), and subB (CYC

• pathways Furthermore, there are examples of the enzymatic synthesis of plant-derived pharmaceutical meroterpenoids through the heterologous expression of a combination of fungal and plant biosynthetic enzymes. The biosynthetic enzymes StbA (polyketide synthase, PKS) and StbC (prenyltransferase, PT) from

Identification of the p-coumaric acid biosynthetic gene cluster in Kutzneria albida: insights into the diazotization-dependent deamination pathway

• Seiji Kawai,
• Akito Yamada,
• Yohei Katsuyama and
• Yasuo Ohnishi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1–11, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.1

• biosynthetic pathway [13]. In this pathway, 3-amino-4-hydroxybenzoic acid (3,4-AHBA, 1), synthesized by AvaH and AvaI, is loaded onto AvaA3 (carrier protein) by AvaA1 (AMP-dependent ligase), resulting in 3,4-AHBA-AvaA3. A highly reducing type II polyketide synthase (PKS) system [15][16] (AvaA2, A4, A5, and A8

• , indicating that CmaG is involved in the production of 6, although it is not essential (Figure 2B). In addition, the ΔcmaG strain produced a higher amount of compound 9 than S. albus-cma. Because compound 9 seems to be a shunt product derived from 3,4-AHBA (1), which is the starter substrate of Cma PKS, this

• result indicated that CmaG is a component of Cma PKS. From NMR analysis and high-resolution (HR)MS analysis ([M + H]+ ion at m/z = 222.0766, which corresponds to C11H12NO4+, calcd. 222.0761) of purified 6, the structure of 6 was determined as N-acetyl-3-aminocoumaric acid (Figures S9–S13 and Table S1 in

Secondary metabolites of Diaporthe cameroonensis, isolated from the Cameroonian medicinal plant Trema guineensis

• Bel Youssouf G. Mountessou,
• Élodie Gisèle M. Anoumedem,
• Blondelle M. Kemkuignou,
• Yasmina Marin-Felix,
• Frank Surup,
• Marc Stadler and
• Simeon F. Kouam

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1555–1561, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.112

• great structural variability such as polyketides, terpenoids, polyketide synthase–nonribosomal peptide synthetase (PKS–NRPS) alkaloids, and cytochalasins, which have been considered as taxonomic markers of the genus [7][8][9][10]. However, it is worthwhile to mention that the name Phomopsis should no

Navigating and expanding the roadmap of natural product genome mining tools

• Friederike Biermann,
• Sebastian L. Wenski and
• Eric J. N. Helfrich

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1656–1671, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.178

• combination of all genome mining approaches will pave the way towards a more comprehensive understanding of the full biosynthetic repertoire encoded in microbial genome sequences. Keywords: genome mining; natural product biosynthesis; non-canonical pathways; PKS; NRPS; RiPP; Introduction In 2002, the genome

• [26]), acyltransferase (AT) (for cis-AT PKS [15]), or ketosynthase (KS) domains (in trans-acyltransferase PKS systems [19][27]). Moreover, in the large majority of cases, the gene order within a BGC reflects the order of the corresponding enzymes during the biosynthesis of the associated NP [19

• ]. trans-AT PKSs are much more complex than cis-AT PKS systems as they harbor non-elongating modules, cryptic domains and seemingly superfluous domains. Moreover, they frequently employ a number of trans-acting modifying enzymes, are characterized by modules that are split between proteins and they often

Synthesis of tryptophan-dehydrobutyrine diketopiperazine and biological activity of hangtaimycin and its co-metabolites

• Houchao Xu,
• Anne Wochele,
• Minghe Luo,
• Gregor Schnakenburg,
• Yuhui Sun,
• Heike Brötz-Oesterhelt and
• Jeroen S. Dickschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1159–1165, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.120

• -AT, [3][4]) polyketide synthase (PKS) and non-ribosomal peptide synthase (NRPS) [2] with a dehydrating bimodule [5][6] involved in the installation of the remaining Z-configured double bond within the polyketide backbone [7]. Furthermore, a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase was recently shown to be

Bioinspired tetraamino-bisthiourea chiral macrocycles in catalyzing decarboxylative Mannich reactions

• Hao Guo,
• Yu-Fei Ao,
• De-Xian Wang and
• Qi-Qiang Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 486–496, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.51

• , we believe this type of biomimetic chiral macrocycles will find more applications as catalysts in other reactions. Design of PKS-inspired multifunctional amino-thiourea macrocycle catalysts. Proposed catalytic mechanism. Synthesis of tetraamino-bisthiourea chiral macrocycles M1–M12. The synthesis of

Secondary metabolites of Bacillus subtilis impact the assembly of soil-derived semisynthetic bacterial communities

• Heiko T. Kiesewalter,
• Carlos N. Lozano-Andrade,
• Mikael L. Strube and
• Ákos T. Kovács

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2983–2998, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.248

• synthesised by NRPS gene clusters (surfactin, plipastatin, and bacillibactin) and one by a hybrid NRPS–PKS gene cluster (bacillaene, Figure 1). The well-studied biosurfactant surfactin, encoded by the srfAA-AD gene cluster, reduces the surface tension needed for swarming and sliding motility [38][39]. The

Fabclavine diversity in Xenorhabdus bacteria

• Sebastian L. Wenski,
• Harun Cimen,
• Natalie Berghaus,
• Sebastian W. Fuchs,
• Selcuk Hazir and
• Helge B. Bode

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 956–965, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.84

• ), and polyketide synthases (PKS). Selected Xenorhabdus and Photorhabdus mutant strains were generated applying a chemically inducible promoter in front of the suggested fabclavine (fcl) biosynthesis gene cluster (BGC), followed by the analysis of the occurring fabclavines. Subsequently, known and

• of fabclavines as major antibiotics in several entomopathogenic strains, our work lays the foundation for the rapid fabclavine identification and dereplication as the basis for future work of this widespread and bioactive SM class. Keywords: antibiotic; fabclavine; NRPS-PKS hybrid; secondary

• ]. Fabclavines are hexapeptide/polyketide hybrids derived from nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) and a polyketide synthase (PKS), which are connected to an unusual polyamine derived from polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) synthases [20]. Beside full-length fabclavines, also shortened derivatives were

Towards the total synthesis of chondrochloren A: synthesis of the (Z)-enamide fragment

• Jan Geldsetzer and
• Markus Kalesse

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 670–673, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.64

• (Cmc5) by the groups of Höfle and Reichenbach in 2003 [12]. This PKS/NRPS-derived natural product shows only weak antibiotic effects in agar diffusion tests against Micrococcus luteus, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus [12]. The relative and absolute stereochemistry

Chemical synthesis of tripeptide thioesters for the biotechnological incorporation into the myxobacterial secondary metabolite argyrin via mutasynthesis

• David C. B. Siebert,
• Roman Sommer,
• Domen Pogorevc,
• Michael Hoffmann,
• Silke C. Wenzel,
• Rolf Müller and
• Alexander Titz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2922–2929, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.286

• . aeruginosa [18]. Biotechnological engineering of producer strains aims to shutdown the natural substrate production and thereby increase the usually poor yields of the mutasynthesis products [19][20]. For bacterial natural products that originate from a polyketide synthase (PKS) or a nonribosomal peptide

Bacterial terpene biosynthesis: challenges and opportunities for pathway engineering

• Eric J. N. Helfrich,
• Geng-Min Lin,
• Christopher A. Voigt and
• Jon Clardy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2889–2906, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.283

• thiotemplated assembly lines, such as type I polyketide synthases (PKS) and nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS), are modular, with each module contributing a distinct fragment to the final product’s core structure – a short-chain carboxylic acid (PKS) or an amino acid (NRPS). The modularly defined template

• allow for quantitative control of product outcomes, while PKS and NRPS pathways feature qualitative control [40]. The gibberellins (e.g., gibberellin A4 (5), Figure 1) are an extreme example illustrating the promiscuity of terpene biosynthetic pathways with more than 130 different family members

• assist in refining our understanding of bacterial terpenoid biosynthesis. Examples of bioactive terpenoids. Repetitive electrophilic and nucleophilic functionalities in terpene and type II PKS-derived polyketide biosynthesis. a) Schematic representation. b) Type II PKS-derived polyketide biosynthesis. c

Nanangenines: drimane sesquiterpenoids as the dominant metabolite cohort of a novel Australian fungus, Aspergillus nanangensis

• Heather J. Lacey,
• Cameron L. M. Gilchrist,
• Andrew Crombie,
• John A. Kalaitzis,
• Daniel Vuong,
• Peter J. Rutledge,
• Peter Turner,
• John I. Pitt,
• Ernest Lacey,
• Yit-Heng Chooi and
• Andrew M. Piggott

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2631–2643, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.256

• side chains present in the (iso)nanangenines could be derived either from a fatty acid synthase (FAS) or polyketide synthase (PKS). For example, in aflatoxin biosynthesis, the hexanoyl started unit is supplied by a FAS [31], while in the meroterpenoid fumagillin biosynthesis, the unsaturated acyl chain

• is synthesised by a PKS [32]. The A. nanangensis genome was sequenced and a draft assembly of the genome was generated. A local BLASTp search of the A. nanangensis genome using the drimane synthase AstC as query returned a hit on scaffold 3, FE257_006542, which was immediately flanked by a highly

• -reducing PKS (FE257_006541) and a FAD-binding oxidoreductase (FE257_006543). AstC, though annotated as a HAD-like hydrolase and having low sequence homology to other characterised terpene synthases, contains sequence motifs conserved across both class I (DDxxD/E) and class II (DxDD, QW) terpene synthases

Isolation and biosynthesis of an unsaturated fatty acid with unusual methylation pattern from a coral-associated bacterium Microbulbifer sp.

• Amit Raj Sharma,
• Enjuro Harunari,
• Tao Zhou,
• Agus Trianto and
• Yasuhiro Igarashi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2327–2332, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.225

• intermediate, from which deprotonation occurs at C9 to give an internal olefin (Scheme 1). In the case of 1, methylation at the C3 carbon is inconsistent with the regular methylation pattern that occurs in fatty acids synthesized by the FAS (fatty acid synthase) or polyketides from the PKS (polyketide synthase

Volatiles from the hypoxylaceous fungi Hypoxylon griseobrunneum and Hypoxylon macrocarpum

• Jan Rinkel,
• Alexander Babczyk,
• Tao Wang,
• Marc Stadler and
• Jeroen S. Dickschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2974–2990, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.277

• (methyl-2H3)methionine. While the methylation pattern of the alternative structure 24c is difficult to understand via a polyketide biosynthesis mechanism, the formation of the assigned structure of 24 by a polyketide synthase (PKS) can be easily rationalised (Scheme 2). The acetate starter unit, bound to

• the acyl carrier protein (ACP) of an iterative fungal PKS, can be elongated with malonyl-SCoA (mal-SCoA) followed by C-methylation with S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM). Two more rounds of elongation with mal-SCoA, the first extension with C-methylation and action of a ketoreductase (KR), result in a

• compared to the anisoles. Compound 23 was recently reported from Euphorbia golondrina [36], but was never observed as a fungal natural product so far. Biosynthetically, the identified compound 23 can arise by a similar mechanism as discussed for 24, potentially as a minor product of the same PKS, only the

Volatiles from the tropical ascomycete Daldinia clavata (Hypoxylaceae, Xylariales)

• Tao Wang,
• Kathrin I. Mohr,
• Marc Stadler and
• Jeroen S. Dickschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 135–147, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.9

• is shown in Scheme 7 that is likely performed by a typical fungal iterative polyketide synthase (PKS). Starting from acyl-carrier-protein (ACP) bound acetate a first elongation step with malonyl-SCoA (Mal-SCoA) catalysed by an acyl transferase (AT) and a ketosynthase (KS) domain yields acetoacetyl

• -SACP. This may be followed by SAM-dependent C-methylation by a methyl transferase domain (MT). The stereochemical course for this reaction can be inferred from the 4R-configuration of the final product 11a, if indeed an iterative PKS is involved that should have the same stereochemical course for the

• Nodulisporium spp. (shown in the box in Scheme 7) [28][39] that may be formed by a similar PKS. Further investigations are required to identify the PKSs for this family of metabolites and to confirm the hypothetical biosynthesis as shown in Scheme 7. The volatile 9, a compound emitted in small amounts by D