Volume 126, Issue 30 pp. 7928-7932
Zuschrift

The Molecular Basis of Conjugated Polyyne Biosynthesis in Phytopathogenic Bacteria

Claudia Ross

Claudia Ross

Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, HKI, Beutenbergstrasse 11a, 07745 Jena (Germany)

Search for more papers by this author
Dr. Kirstin Scherlach

Dr. Kirstin Scherlach

Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, HKI, Beutenbergstrasse 11a, 07745 Jena (Germany)

Search for more papers by this author
Florian Kloss

Florian Kloss

Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, HKI, Beutenbergstrasse 11a, 07745 Jena (Germany)

Search for more papers by this author
Prof. Dr. Christian Hertweck

Corresponding Author

Prof. Dr. Christian Hertweck

Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, HKI, Beutenbergstrasse 11a, 07745 Jena (Germany)

Chair of Natural Product Chemistry, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena (Germany)

Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, HKI, Beutenbergstrasse 11a, 07745 Jena (Germany)Search for more papers by this author
First published: 04 June 2014
Citations: 13

We thank A. Perner and H. Heinecke for MS and NMR measurements, and B. Urbansky and C. Karkowski for general lab assistance.

Abstract

Polyynes (polyacetylenes), which are produced by a variety of organisms, play important roles in ecology. Whereas alkyne biosynthesis in plants, fungi, and insects has been studied, the biogenetic origin of highly unstable bacterial polyynes has remained a riddle. Transposon mutagenesis and genome sequencing unveiled the caryoynencin (cay) biosynthesis gene cluster in the plant pathogen B. caryophylli, and homologous gene clusters were found in various other bacteria by comparative genomics. Gene inactivation and phylogenetic analyses revealed that novel desaturase/acetylenase genes mediate bacterial polyyne assembly. A cytochrome P450 monooxygenase is involved in the formation of the allylic alcohol moiety, as evidenced by analysis of a fragile intermediate, which was stabilized by an in situ click reaction. This work not only grants first insight into bacterial polyyne biosynthesis but also demonstrates that the click reaction can be employed to trap fragile polyynes from crude mixtures.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.