title: Toward steadfast growth of antibiotic research in China: from natural products to engineered biosynthesis.
abstract: Antibiotics are widely used for clinical treatment and preventing or curing diseases in agriculture. Cloning and studies of their biosynthetic gene clusters are vital for yield enhancement and engineering new derivatives with new and prominent activities. In recent years, research in this aspect is impressively active in China. This article reviews biosynthetic progress on 28 antibiotics, including polyketides, nonribosomal peptides, hybrid polyketide-nonribosomal peptides, peptidyl nucleoside, nucleoside, and others. Their biosynthetic mechanisms were disclosed, and their derivatives with new structures/activities were obtained by gene inactivation, mutasynthesis and combinatorial biosynthesis.
authors.affiliation: State key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism and School of Life Sciences & Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
authors.forename: Qianjin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Linquan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.forename: Zixin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Deng
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D001688:Biological Products / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D001709:Biotechnology; D002681:China; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D012106:Research
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001688:Biological Products