Pentostatin (PTN, deoxycoformycin) and arabinofuranosyladenine (Ara-A, vidarabine) are purine nucleoside antibiotics used clinically to treat hematological cancers and human DNA virus infections, respectively. PTN has a 1,3-diazepine ring, and Ara-A is an adenosine analog with an intriguing epimerization at the C-2' hydroxyl group. However, the logic underlying the biosynthesis of these interesting molecules has long remained elusive. Here, we report that the biosynthesis of PTN and Ara-A employs an unusual protector-protégé strategy. To our surprise, we determined that a single gene cluster governs PTN and Ara-A biosynthesis via two independent pathways. Moreover, we verified that PenB functions as a reversible oxidoreductase for the final step of PTN. Remarkably, we provided the first direct biochemical evidence that PTN can protect Ara-A from deamination by selective inhibition of the host adenosine deaminase. These findings expand our knowledge of natural product biosynthesis and open the way for target-directed genome mining of Ara-A/PTN-related antibiotics.

Piperidine and indolizidine are two basic units of alkaloids that are frequently observed in natural and synthetic compounds. Their biosynthesis in natural products is highly conserved and mostly derived from the incorporation of lysine cyclization products. Through in vitro reconstitution, we herein identified a novel pathway involving a group of polyketide-derived indolizidines, which comprises the processes of tandem two-electron thioester reduction, transamination, and imine reduction to convert acyl carrier protein (ACP)-tethered polyketide chains into the piperidine moieties of their indolizidine scaffolds. The enzymes that catalyze the imine reduction are distinct from previous known imine reductases, which have a fold of acyl-CoA dehydrogenase but do not require flavin for reduction. Our results not only provide a new way for the biosynthesis of the basic units of alkaloids but also show a novel class of imine reductases that may benefit the fields of biocatalysis and biomanufacturing.

Natural products are critical for drug discovery and development; however their discovery is challenged by the wide inactivation or silence of microbial biosynthetic pathways. Currently strategies targeting this problem are mainly concentrated on chromosome dissembling, transcription, and translation-stage regulations as well as chemical stimulation. In this study, we developed a novel approach to awake cryptic/silenced microbial biosynthetic pathways through augmentation of the conserved protein modification step-phosphopantetheinylation of carrier proteins. Overexpression of phosphopantetheinyl transferase (Pptase) genes into 33 Actinomycetes achieved a significantly high activation ratio at which 23 (70%) strains produced new metabolites. Genetic and biochemical studies on the mode-of-action revealed that exogenous PPtases triggered the activation of carrier proteins and subsequent production of metabolites. With this approach we successfully identified five oviedomycin and halichomycin-like compounds from two strains. This study provides a novel approach to efficiently activate cryptic/silenced biosynthetic pathways which will be useful for natural products discovery.

Kosinostatin (KST), an antitumor antibiotic, features a pyrrolopyrrole moiety spirally jointed to a five-membered ring of an anthraquinone framework glycosylated with a γ-branched octose. By a combination of in silico analysis, genetic characterization, biochemical assay, and precursor feeding experiments, a biosynthetic pathway for KST was proposed, which revealed (1) the pyrrolopyrrole moiety originates from nicotinic acid and ribose, (2) the bicyclic amidine is constructed by a process similar to the tryptophan biosynthetic pathway, and (3) a discrete adenylation enzyme and a peptidyl carrier protein (PCP) are responsible for producing a PCP-tethered building block parallel to type II polyketide synthase (PKS) rather than for the PKS priming step by providing the starter unit. These findings provide an opportunity to further explore the inexplicable enzymatic logic that governs the formation of pyrrolopyrrole moiety and the spirocyclic skeleton.