Marie E. Yurkovich, PetrosA. Tyrakis, Hui Hong, Yuhui Sun, Markiyan Samborskyy, Kohei Kamiya, and Peter F. Leadlay*
ChemBioChem 2012, 13(1):66-71
Epub Date: 11 November 2011
DOI: 10.1002/cbic.201100590
Say “when”: Analysis of the biosynthetic gene cluster for the polyether antibiotic and anticancer agent salinomycin shows that its core structure is synthesised by a nine-multienzyme modular polyketide synthase. Deletion of the salC gene, which is required for oxidative cyclisation, has led to the detection ofa novel metabolite whose structure reveals the timing of a key dehydration step.