Alice Y. Chen

The Biochemical Basis for Stereochemical Control in Polyketide Biosynthesis

One of the most striking features of complex polyketides is the presence of numerous methyl- and hydroxyl-bearing stereogenic centers. To investigate the biochemical basis for the control of polyketide stereochemistry and to establish the timing and mechanism of the epimerization at methyl-bearing centers, a series of incubations was carried out using reconstituted components from a variety of modular polyketide synthases. In all cases the stereochemistry of the product was directly correlated with the intrinsic stereospecificity of the ketoreductase domain, independent of the particular chain elongation domains that were used, thereby establishing that methyl group epimerization, when it does occur, takes place after ketosynthase-catalyzed chain elongation. The finding that there were only minor differences in the rates of product formation observed for parallel incubations using an epimerizing ketoreductase domain and the nonepimerizing ketoreductase domain supports the proposal that the epimerization is catalyzed by the ketoreductase domain itself.

Reprogramming a module of the 6-deoxyerythronolide B synthase for iterative chain elongation

Multimodular polyketide synthases (PKSs) have an assembly line architecture in which a set of protein domains, known as a module, participates in one round of polyketide chain elongation and associated chemical modifications, after which the growing chain is translocated to the next PKS module. The ability to rationally reprogram these assembly lines to enable efficient synthesis of new polyketide antibiotics has been a long-standing goal in natural products biosynthesis. We have identified a ratchet mechanism that can explain the observed unidirectional translocation of the growing polyketide chain along the 6-deoxyerythronolide B synthase. As a test of this model, module 3 of the 6-deoxyerythronolide B synthase has been reengineered to catalyze two successive rounds of chain elongation. Our results suggest that high selectivity has been evolutionarily programmed at three types of protein–protein interfaces that are present repetitively along naturally occurring PKS assembly lines.

Molecular recognition between ketosynthase and acyl carrier protein domains of the 6-deoxyerythronolide B synthase

Every polyketide synthase module has an acyl carrier protein (ACP) and a ketosynthase (KS) domain that collaborate to catalyze chain elongation. The same ACP then engages the KS domain of the next module to facilitate chain transfer. Understanding the mechanism for this orderly progress of the growing polyketide chain represents a fundamental challenge in assembly line enzymology. Using both experimental and computational approaches, the molecular basis for KS–ACP interactions in the 6-deoxyerythronolide B synthase has been decoded. Surprisingly, KS–ACP recognition is controlled at different interfaces during chain elongation versus chain transfer. In fact, chain elongation is controlled at a docking site remote from the catalytic center. Not only do our findings reveal a new principle in the modular control of polyketide antibiotic biosynthesis, they also provide a rationale for the mandatory homodimeric structure of polyketide synthases, in contrast to the monomeric nonribosomal peptide synthetases.

Stereospecificity of Ketoreductase Domains 1 and 2 of the Tylactone Modular Polyketide Synthase

Tylactone synthase (TYLS) is a modular polyketide synthase that catalyzes the formation of tylactone (1), the parent aglycone precursor of the macrolide antibiotic tylosin. TYLS modules 1 and 2 are responsible for the generation of antidiketide and triketide intermediates, respectively, each bound to an acyl carrier protein (ACP) domain. Each module harbors a ketoreductase (KR) domain. The stereospecificity of TYLS KR1 and TYLS KR2 has been determined by incubating each of the recombinant ketoreductase domains with reconstituted ketosynthase-acyltransferase [KS][AT] and ACP domains from the 6-deoxyerythronolide B synthase (DEBS) in the presence of the N-acetylcysteamine thioester of syn-(2S,3R)-2-methyl-3-hydroxypentanoate (6), methylmalonyl-CoA, and NADPH resulting in the exclusive formation of the ACP-bound (2R,3R,4S,5R)-2,4-methyl-3,5-dihydroxyhepanoyl triketide, as established by GC-MS analysis of the TMS ether of the derived triketide lactone 7. Both TYLS KR1 and KR2 therefore catalyze the stereospecific reduction of the 2-methyl-3-ketoacyl-ACP substrate from the re-face, with specificity for the reduction of the (2R)-methyl (D) diastereomer. The dehydration that is catalyzed by the dehydratase (DH) domains of TYLS module 2 to give the unsaturated (2E,4S,5R)-2,4-dimethyl-5-hydroxyhept-2-enoyl-ACP2 is therefore a syn elimination of water.