Antitumor polyketide biosynthesis by an uncultivated bacterial symbiont of the marine sponge Theonella swinhoei.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial symbionts have long been suspected to be the true producers of many drug candidates isolated from marine invertebrates. Sponges, the most important marine source of biologically active natural products, have been frequently hypothesized to contain compounds of bacterial origin. This symbiont hypothesis, however, remained unproven because of a general inability to cultivate the suspected producers. However, we have recently identified an uncultured Pseudomonas sp. symbiont as the most likely producer of the defensive antitumor polyketide pederin in Paederus fuscipes beetles by cloning the putative biosynthesis genes. Here we report closely related genes isolated from the highly complex metagenome of the marine sponge Theonella swinhoei, which is the source of the onnamides and the

SUBMITTER: Piel J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC528957 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature