scholarly journals Meeting Report for Synthetic Biology for Natural Products 2017: The Interface of (Meta)Genomics, Machine Learning, and Natural Product Discovery

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 737-743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Smanski ◽  
David Mead ◽  
Claes Gustafsson ◽  
Michael G. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Natural Products ◽  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Meeting Report ◽  
Natural Product Discovery

scholarly journals Synthetic Biology Advanced Natural Product Discovery

Metabolites ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 785
Author(s):  
Junyang Wang ◽  
Jens Nielsen ◽  
Zihe Liu
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Genome Mining ◽  
Gene Clusters ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Biosynthetic Gene ◽  
Biosynthetic Gene Clusters ◽  
Natural Product Discovery

A wide variety of bacteria, fungi and plants can produce bioactive secondary metabolites, which are often referred to as natural products. With the rapid development of DNA sequencing technology and bioinformatics, a large number of putative biosynthetic gene clusters have been reported. However, only a limited number of natural products have been discovered, as most biosynthetic gene clusters are not expressed or are expressed at extremely low levels under conventional laboratory conditions. With the rapid development of synthetic biology, advanced genome mining and engineering strategies have been reported and they provide new opportunities for discovery of natural products. This review discusses advances in recent years that can accelerate the design, build, test, and learn (DBTL) cycle of natural product discovery, and prospects trends and key challenges for future research directions.

scholarly journals The Tripod for Bacterial Natural Product Discovery: Genome Mining, Silent Pathway Induction, and Mass Spectrometry-Based Molecular Networking

mSystems ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela B. B. Trivella ◽  
Rafael de Felicio
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Natural Products ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Biosynthetic Pathway ◽  
Genome Mining ◽  
Chemical Compounds ◽  
Gene Clusters ◽  
Tandem Mass ◽  
Molecular Networking ◽  
Natural Product Discovery

ABSTRACT Natural products are the richest source of chemical compounds for drug discovery. Particularly, bacterial secondary metabolites are in the spotlight due to advances in genome sequencing and mining, as well as for the potential of biosynthetic pathway manipulation to awake silent (cryptic) gene clusters under laboratory cultivation. Further progress in compound detection, such as the development of the tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) molecular networking approach, has contributed to the discovery of novel bacterial natural products. The latter can be applied directly to bacterial crude extracts for identifying and dereplicating known compounds, therefore assisting the prioritization of extracts containing novel natural products, for example. In our opinion, these three approaches—genome mining, silent pathway induction, and MS-based molecular networking—compose the tripod for modern bacterial natural product discovery and will be discussed in this perspective.

scholarly journals mSphere of Influence: Synthetic Biology of Natural Product Biosynthesis

mSphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark C. Walker
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Gene Cluster ◽  
Biosynthetic Gene Cluster ◽  
Biosynthetic Gene ◽  
Natural Product Biosynthesis ◽  
Antibiotic Compounds ◽  
Approaches To Study

ABSTRACT Mark Walker studies the biosynthesis and engineering of bacterial natural products with the long-term goal of identifying new antibiotic compounds. In this mSphere of Influence, he reflects on how “Direct cloning and refactoring of a silent lipopeptide biosynthetic gene cluster yields the antibiotic taromycin A” by K. Yamanaka, K. A. Reynolds, R. D. Kersten, K. S. Ryan, et al. (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111:1957–1962, 2014, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319584111) impacted his thinking on using synthetic biology approaches to study natural product biosynthesis.

Applied evolution: phylogeny-based approaches in natural products research

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (9) ◽  
pp. 1295-1312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Adamek ◽  
Mohammad Alanjary ◽  
Nadine Ziemert
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Structure Elucidation ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Natural Product Discovery

Here we highlight how phylogenetic analyses can be used to facilitate natural product discovery and structure elucidation.

scholarly journals Natural product biosyntheses in cyanobacteria: A treasure trove of unique enzymes

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 1622-1635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan-Christoph Kehr ◽  
Douglas Gatte Picchi ◽  
Elke Dittmann
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Bioactive Compounds ◽  
Polyketide Synthase ◽  
Biosynthetic Pathways ◽  
Peptide Synthetase ◽  
Biochemical Studies ◽  
Terrestrial Habitats ◽  
The Individual

Cyanobacteria are prolific producers of natural products. Investigations into the biochemistry responsible for the formation of these compounds have revealed fascinating mechanisms that are not, or only rarely, found in other microorganisms. In this article, we survey the biosynthetic pathways of cyanobacteria isolated from freshwater, marine and terrestrial habitats. We especially emphasize modular nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) and polyketide synthase (PKS) pathways and highlight the unique enzyme mechanisms that were elucidated or can be anticipated for the individual products. We further include ribosomal natural products and UV-absorbing pigments from cyanobacteria. Mechanistic insights obtained from the biochemical studies of cyanobacterial pathways can inspire the development of concepts for the design of bioactive compounds by synthetic-biology approaches in the future.

scholarly journals The Combination of Tradition and Future: Data-Driven Natural-Product-Based Treatments for Parkinson’s Disease

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Zhijun Miao ◽  
Jinwei Bai ◽  
Li Shen ◽  
Rajeev K. Singla
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Natural Products ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Natural Product Discovery ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Future Data ◽  
Personalized Diagnosis

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder in elderly people. The personalized diagnosis and treatment remain challenges all over the world. In recent years, natural products are becoming potential therapies for many complex diseases due to their stability and low drug resistance. With the development of informatics technologies, data-driven natural product discovery and healthcare is becoming reality. For PD, however, the relevant research and tools for natural products are quite limited. Here in this review, we summarize current available databases, tools, and models for general natural product discovery and synthesis. These useful resources could be used and integrated for future PD-specific natural product investigations. At the same time, the challenges and opportunities for future natural-product-based PD care will also be discussed.

scholarly journals Making drugs out of sunlight and ‘thin air’: an emerging synergy of synthetic biology and natural product chemistry

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 34-39
Author(s):  
Michael J. Stephenson ◽  
Anne Osbourn
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Biological Activities ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Scale Production ◽  
Natural Product Chemistry ◽  
Product Chemistry

Nature has long served as a rich source of structurally diverse small organic molecules with medicinally relevant biological activities. Despite the historical success of these so-called natural products, the enthusiasm of big pharma to explore these compounds as leads in drug design has waxed and waned. A major contributor to this is their often inherent structural complexity. Such compounds are difficult (often impossible) to access synthetically, a hurdle that can stifle lead development and hinder sustainable large-scale production of promising leads for clinical evaluation. However, in recent years, an emerging synergy between synthetic biology and natural product chemistry offers the potential for a renaissance in our ability to access natural products for drug discovery and development. Advances in genome sequencing, bioinformatics and the maturing of heterologous expression platforms are increasing, enabling the study, and ultimately, the manipulation of plant biosynthetic pathways. The triterpenes are one of the most structurally diverse families of natural products and arguably one of the most underrepresented in the clinic. The plant kingdom is the richest source of triterpene diversity, with >20,000 triterpenes reported so far. Transient expression of genes for candidate enzymes and pathways in amenable plant species is emerging as a powerful and rapid means of investigating and harnessing the plant enzymes involved in generating this diversity. Such platforms also have the potential to serve as production systems in their own right, with the possibility of upscaling these discoveries into commercially useful products using the same overall basic procedure. Ultimately, the carbon source for generation of high-value compounds in plants is photosynthesis. Therefore, we could, with the help of plants, be producing new medicines out of sunlight and ‘thin air’ in green factories in the not too distant future.

Synthetic biology and metabolic engineering of actinomycetes for natural product discovery

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 107366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilia Palazzotto ◽  
Yaojun Tong ◽  
Sang Yup Lee ◽  
Tilmann Weber
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Engineering ◽  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Natural Product Discovery

scholarly journals Expanding the Fluorine Chemistry of Living Systems Using Engineered Polyketide Synthase Pathways

Science ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 341 (6150) ◽  
pp. 1089-1094 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark C. Walker ◽  
Benjamin W. Thuronyi ◽  
Louise K. Charkoudian ◽  
Brian Lowry ◽  
Chaitan Khosla ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Polyketide Synthase ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Synthetic Compounds ◽  
Fluorinated Building Blocks

Organofluorines represent a rapidly expanding proportion of molecules that are used in pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, agrochemicals, and materials. Despite the prevalence of fluorine in synthetic compounds, the known biological scope is limited to a single pathway that produces fluoroacetate. Here, we demonstrate that this pathway can be exploited as a source of fluorinated building blocks for introduction of fluorine into natural-product scaffolds. Specifically, we have constructed pathways involving two polyketide synthase systems, and we show that fluoroacetate can be used to incorporate fluorine into the polyketide backbone in vitro. We further show that fluorine can be inserted site-selectively and introduced into polyketide products in vivo. These results highlight the prospects for the production of complex fluorinated natural products using synthetic biology.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document