Publications

• Acyltransferase mediated polyketide release from a fungal megasynthase.

  Xie X., Meehan M.J., Xu W., Dorrestein P.C., Tang Y.

  LovF is a highly reducing polyketide synthase (HR-PKS) from the filamentous fungus Aspergillus terreus. LovF synthesizes the alpha-S-methylbutyrate side chain that is subsequently transferred to monacolin J to yield the cholesterol-lowering natural product lovastatin. In the report, we expressed t ... >> More

  LovF is a highly reducing polyketide synthase (HR-PKS) from the filamentous fungus Aspergillus terreus. LovF synthesizes the alpha-S-methylbutyrate side chain that is subsequently transferred to monacolin J to yield the cholesterol-lowering natural product lovastatin. In the report, we expressed the full length LovF and reconstituted the megasynthase activities in vitro. We confirmed the diketide product of LovF is offloaded from the LovF ACP domain by the dissociated acyltransferase LovD. This represents the first example of acyltransferase-mediated release of polyketide products from fungal PKSs. We determined LovD primarily interacts with the ACP domain of LovF and the protein-protein interactions lead to highly efficient transfer of the diketide product. The catalytic efficiency is enhanced nearly 1 x 10(6)-fold when LovF was used as the acyl carrier instead of N-acetylcysteamine. Reconstitution and characterization of the LovF offloading mechanism provide new insights into the functions of fungal HR-PKS. << Less

  J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131:8388-8389(2009) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

  This publication is cited by 1 other entry.

• Identification of mokB involved in monacolin K biosynthesis in Monascus pilosus.

  Sakai K., Kinoshita H., Nihira T.

  Monacolin K (MK), which is widely used as an antihypercholesterolemia medicine, is produced as a fungal secondary metabolite through the polyketide pathway. The MK biosynthetic gene cluster proposed for Monascus pilosus BCRC38072 was also identified in M. pilosus NBRC4480. The mokB gene, located a ... >> More

  Monacolin K (MK), which is widely used as an antihypercholesterolemia medicine, is produced as a fungal secondary metabolite through the polyketide pathway. The MK biosynthetic gene cluster proposed for Monascus pilosus BCRC38072 was also identified in M. pilosus NBRC4480. The mokB gene, located at the end of the putative gene cluster and possibly encoding polyketide synthase, was disrupted. The mokB disruptant did not produce MK, but accumulated an intermediate that was confirmed to be monacolin J, indicating that mokB encodes the polyketide synthase responsible for the biosynthesis of side-chain diketide moiety. << Less

  Biotechnol. Lett. 31:1911-1916(2009) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

• Modulation of polyketide synthase activity by accessory proteins during lovastatin biosynthesis.

  Kennedy J., Auclair K., Kendrew S.G., Park C., Vederas J.C., Hutchinson C.R.

  Polyketides, the ubiquitous products of secondary metabolism in microorganisms, are made by a process resembling fatty acid biosynthesis that allows the suppression of reduction or dehydration reactions at specific biosynthetic steps, giving rise to a wide range of often medically useful products. ... >> More

  Polyketides, the ubiquitous products of secondary metabolism in microorganisms, are made by a process resembling fatty acid biosynthesis that allows the suppression of reduction or dehydration reactions at specific biosynthetic steps, giving rise to a wide range of often medically useful products. The lovastatin biosynthesis cluster contains two type I polyketide synthase genes. Synthesis of the main nonaketide-derived skeleton was found to require the previously known iterative lovastatin nonaketide synthase (LNKS), plus at least one additional protein (LovC) that interacts with LNKS and is necessary for the correct processing of the growing polyketide chain and production of dihydromonacolin L. The noniterative lovastatin diketide synthase (LDKS) enzyme specifies formation of 2-methylbutyrate and interacts closely with an additional transesterase (LovD) responsible for assembling lovastatin from this polyketide and monacolin J. << Less

  Science 284:1368-1372(1999) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

  This publication is cited by 2 other entries.

• FT-ICR-MS characterization of intermediates in the biosynthesis of the alpha-methylbutyrate side chain of lovastatin by the 277 kDa polyketide synthase LovF.

  Meehan M.J., Xie X., Zhao X., Xu W., Tang Y., Dorrestein P.C.

  There are very few fungal polyketide synthases that have been characterized by mass spectrometry. In this paper we describe the in vitro reconstitution and FT-ICR-MS verification of the full activity of an intact 277 kDa fungal polyketide synthase LovF of the lovastatin biosynthetic pathway. We re ... >> More

  There are very few fungal polyketide synthases that have been characterized by mass spectrometry. In this paper we describe the in vitro reconstitution and FT-ICR-MS verification of the full activity of an intact 277 kDa fungal polyketide synthase LovF of the lovastatin biosynthetic pathway. We report here both the verification of the reconstitution of fully functional holo-LovF by using (13)C-labeled malonyl-CoA to form α-methylbutyrate functionality and also detection of five predicted intermediates covalently bound to the 4'-phosphopantetheine at the acyl carrier protein (ACP) active site utilizing the phosphopantetheine ejection assay and high-resolution mass spectrometry. Under in vitro conditions, the diketide acetoacetyl intermediate did not accumulate on the ACP active site of holo-LovF following incubation with malonyl-CoA substrate. We found that incubation of holo-LovF with acetoacetyl-CoA served as an effective means of loading the diketide intermediate onto the ACP active site of LovF. Our results demonstrate that subsequent α-methylation of the acetoacetyl intermediate stabilizes the intermediate onto the ACP active site and facilitates the formation and mass spectrometric detection of additional intermediates en route to the formation of α-methylbutyrate. << Less

  Biochemistry 50:287-299(2011) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]