title: Biosynthesis of rapamycin and its regulation: past achievements and recent progress.
abstract: Rapamycin and its analogs are clinically important macrolide compounds produced by Streptomyces hygroscopicus. They exhibit antifungal, immunosuppressive, antitumor, neuroprotective and antiaging activities. The core macrolactone ring of rapamycin is biosynthesized by hybrid type I modular polyketide synthase (PKS)/nonribosomal peptide synthetase systems primed with 4,5-dihydrocyclohex-1-ene-carboxylic acid. The linear polyketide chain is condensed with pipecolate by peptide synthetase, followed by cyclization to form the macrolide ring and modified by a series of post-PKS tailoring steps. The aim of this review was to outline past and recent advances in the biosynthesis and regulation of rapamycin, with an emphasis on the distinguished contributions of Professor Demain to the study of rapamycin. In addition, this article describes the biological activities as well as mechanism of action of rapamycin and its derivatives. Recent attempts to improve the productivity of rapamycin and generate diverse rapamycin analogs through mutasynthesis and mutagenesis are also introduced, along with some future perspectives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Nano Science, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sung Ryeol
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Young Ji
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Yeon-Hee
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Ban
authors.forename: Yeo Joon
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Yoon
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000639:trends; D053898:Biosynthetic Pathways / Q000235:genetics*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D020123:Sirolimus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013302:Streptomyces / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D020123:Sirolimus