title: Unique marine derived cyanobacterial biosynthetic genes for chemical diversity.
abstract: Cyanobacteria are a prolific source of structurally unique and biologically active natural products that derive from intriguing biochemical pathways. Advancements in genome sequencing have accelerated the identification of unique modular biosynthetic gene clusters in cyanobacteria and reveal a wealth of unusual enzymatic reactions involved in their construction. This article examines several interesting mechanistic transformations involved in cyanobacterial secondary metabolite biosynthesis with a particular focus on marine derived modular polyketide synthases (PKS), nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) and combinations thereof to form hybrid natural products. Further, we focus on the cyanobacterial genus Moorea and the co-evolution of its enzyme cassettes that create metabolic diversity. Progress in the development of heterologous expression systems for cyanobacterial gene clusters along with chemoenzymatic synthesis makes it possible to create new analogs. Additionally, phylum-wide genome sequencing projects have enhanced the discovery rate of new natural products and their distinctive enzymatic reactions. Summarizing, cyanobacterial biosynthetic gene clusters encode for a large toolbox of novel enzymes that catalyze unique chemical reactions, some of which may be useful in synthetic biology.
authors.affiliation: Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, USA. wgerwick@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kleigrewe
authors.affiliation: Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, USA. wgerwick@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: Lena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gerwick
authors.affiliation: Life Sciences Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Sherman
authors.affiliation: Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, USA. wgerwick@ucsd.edu and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, USA.
authors.forename: William H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Gerwick
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D001688:Biological Products / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D015394:Molecular Structure; D005810:Multigene Family; D010453:Peptide Synthases; D048630:Polyketide Synthases / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001688:Biological Products; D048630:Polyketide Synthases; D010453:Peptide Synthases; C104385:non-ribosomal peptide synthase