title: Cyanobacteria: photosynthetic factories combining biodiversity, radiation resistance, and genetics to facilitate drug discovery.
abstract: Cyanobacteria are ancient, abundant, and widely diverse photosynthetic prokaryotes, which are viewed as promising cell factories for the ecologically responsible production of chemicals. Natural cyanobacteria synthesize a vast array of biologically active (secondary) metabolites with great potential for human health, while a few genetic models can be engineered for the (low level) production of biofuels. Recently, genome sequencing and mining has revealed that natural cyanobacteria have the capacity to produce many more secondary metabolites than have been characterized. The corresponding panoply of enzymes (polyketide synthases and non-ribosomal peptide synthases) of interest for synthetic biology can still be increased through gene manipulations with the tools available for the few genetically manipulable strains. In this review, we propose to exploit the metabolic diversity and radiation resistance of cyanobacteria, and when required the genetics of model strains, for the production and radioactive (14C) labeling of bioactive products, in order to facilitate the screening for new drugs.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), CEA, CNRS, Univ Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France.
authors.forename: Corinne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cassier-Chauvat
authors.affiliation: Service d'Ingénierie Moléculaire des Protéines (SIMOPRO), IBITECS, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Dive
authors.affiliation: Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), CEA, CNRS, Univ Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France. franck.chauvat@cea.fr.
authors.forename: Franck
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9151-7667
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chauvat
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000528:radiation effects; D010453:Peptide Synthases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D010453:Peptide Synthases; C104385:non-ribosomal peptide synthase
keywords: Biodiversity; Cyanobacteria; Radioactive labeling; Secondary metabolites; Toxins