Microbes produce specialized metabolites to thrive in their natural habitats. However, it is rare that a given specialized metabolite is biosynthesized via pathways with distinct intermediates and enzymes. Here, we show that the core assembly mechanism of the antibiotic indolmycin in marine gram-negative Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea is distinct from its counterpart in terrestrial gram-positive Streptomyces species, with a molecule that is a shunt product in the Streptomyces pathway employed as a biosynthetic substrate for a novel metal-independent N-demethylindolmycin synthase in the P ...
Microbes produce specialized metabolites to thrive in their natural habitats. However, it is rare that a given specialized metabolite is biosynthesized via pathways with distinct intermediates and enzymes. Here, we show that the core assembly mechanism of the antibiotic indolmycin in marine gram-negative Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea is distinct from its counterpart in terrestrial gram-positive Streptomyces species, with a molecule that is a shunt product in the Streptomyces pathway employed as a biosynthetic substrate for a novel metal-independent N-demethylindolmycin synthase in the P. luteoviolacea pathway. To provide insight into this reaction, we solved the 1.5 Å resolution structure in complex with product and identified the active site residues. Guided by our biosynthetic insights, we then engineered the Streptomyces indolmycin producer for titer improvement. This study provides a paradigm for understanding how two unique routes to a microbial specialized metabolite can emerge from convergent biosynthetic transformations.
Organizational Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. ksryan@chem.ubc.ca.
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