Repurposed biocatalysts for the assembly of antibiotics and toxins Christian Hertweck Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (HKI), Germany Genome mining has greatly facilitated the identification of talented producer strains in neglected phyla. Yet, many non-canonical assembly lines evade bioinformatics predictions. When studying the biosynthesis of various structurally unique toxins and antibiotics in Gram-negative and anaerobic bacteria, we have come across unusual transformations involving biocatalysts that likely emerged from central metabolism and RNA modification. Beyond this intriguing evolutionary aspect, knowledge on these enzymes may be used for the development of novel biocatalysts and/or therapeutic approaches. Recent progress in studying biosynthetic pathways in unconventional producer strains at the genetic, biochemical and structural levels is presented.
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© The Author(s), 2022
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