Call for PNAS Covers Sign up for PNAS Online eTocs
Link: Info for AuthorsLink: Editorial BoardLink: AboutLink: SubscribeLink: AdvertiseLink: ContactLink: Sitemap Link: PNAS Home
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Link: Current Issue "" Link: Archives "" Link: Online Submission ""  Link: Advanced Search

Published online on February 4, 2008, 10.1073/pnas.0710107105
PNAS | March 25, 2008 | vol. 105 | no. 12 | 4595-4600


This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supporting Information
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a colleague
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Copyright Permission
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ridley, C. P.
Right arrow Articles by Khosla, C.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ridley, C. P.
Right arrow Articles by Khosla, C.
Related Content
Right arrow Chemical Ecology Special Feature
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg  
What's this?

 Previous Article  | Table of Contents |  Next Article 

Chemical Ecology Special Feature
CHEMICAL ECOLOGY SPECIAL FEATURE / BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES / RESEARCH ARTICLES / ECOLOGY
Evolution of polyketide synthases in bacteria

Christian P. Ridley, Ho Young Lee, and Chaitan Khosla*

Departments of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Biochemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305

Edited by Jerrold Meinwald, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and approved December 18, 2007 (received for review October 28, 2007)

The emergence of resistant strains of human pathogens to current antibiotics, along with the demonstrated ability of polyketides as antimicrobial agents, provides strong motivation for understanding how polyketide antibiotics have evolved and diversified in nature. Insights into how bacterial polyketide synthases (PKSs) acquire new metabolic capabilities can guide future laboratory efforts in generating the next generation of polyketide antibiotics. Here, we examine phylogenetic and structural evidence to glean answers to two general questions regarding PKS evolution. How did the exceptionally diverse chemistry of present-day PKSs evolve? And what are the take-home messages for the biosynthetic engineer?

biosynthesis | metabolism | engineering

Author contributions: C.P.R. and H.Y.L. analyzed data; and C.P.R., H.Y.L., and C.K. wrote the paper.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.

This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0710107105/DC1.

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: khosla{at}stanford.edu

© 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles in HighWire Press-hosted journals:


Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
J. Meinwald and T. Eisner
Chemical Ecology Special Feature: Chemical ecology in retrospect and prospect
PNAS, March 25, 2008; 105(12): 4539 - 4540.
[Full Text] [PDF]