Natural biocombinatorics in the polyketide synthase genes of the actinobacterium Streptomyces avermitilis.

ABSTRACT: Modular polyketide synthases (PKSs) of bacteria provide an enormous reservoir of natural chemical diversity. Studying natural biocombinatorics may aid in the development of concepts for experimental design of genes for the biosynthesis of new bioactive compounds. Here we address the question of how the modularity of biosynthetic enzymes and the prevalence of multiple gene clusters in Streptomyces drive the evolution of metabolic diversity. The phylogeny of ketosynthase (KS) domains of Streptomyces PKSs revealed that the majority of modules involved in the biosynthesis of a single compound evolved by duplication of a single ancestor module. Using Streptomyces avermitilis as a model organism, we have reconstructed the evolutionary relationships of different domain types. This analysis sugges

SUBMITTER: Jenke-Kodama H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1592344 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature