The overarching goal of our research program is to elucidate how nature produces polyether natural products. Polyethers are a subgroup of polyketide natural products and, as a class, they possess a wide range of useful activities, including antibacterial, antifungal, and anticancer properties. However, polyether drug development is hampered by our inability to quickly and efficiently synthesize natural polyethers and their derivatives for medicinal chemistry and drug optimization studies. This is due to the unusually complex structure of natural polyethers. An attractive solution to this problem is to biosynthesize complex polyethers using engineered laboratory-friendly organisms such as bacteria or yeast. This approach is expected to make countless new polyethers accessible for drug research. In order to create a robust and reliable polyether bioproduction platform, we must first achieve a detailed and comprehensive understanding of how polyethers are produced in living organisms. More than 100 different polyether natural products have been discovered so far, and examination of known polyether biosynthetic gene clusters show that all polyethers are generated via a common three-stage biosynthetic scheme. Stage 1: construction of the polyketide backbone by modular polyketide synthases. Stage 2: stereoselective epoxidation of the polyene intermediate by a monooxygenase. Stage 3: formation of the hallmark cyclic ether groups by one or more epoxide hydrolases. The universal nature of this scheme ensures that investigation of any one particular polyether biosynthesis pathway and its associated enzymes will lead to a general understanding of how nature generates polyethers. In this project, we will study the biosynthetic enzymes from the lasalocid A biosynthesis pathway from Streptomyces lasaliensis. Lasalocid A biosynthesis pathway is an excellent model system for studying how nature produces polyethers because it consists of just nine enzymes, yet it possesses all the hallmark chemical transformations of polyether biosynthesis.
Polyether natural products hold tremendous therapeutic potential as they possess antibacterial, antifungal, immunosuppressive, and antiproliferative activities. Our work will greatly enhance our understanding of how living organisms synthesize these important molecules. It is essential that we comprehend how nature produces polyethers because it will enable rational engineering of biosynthetic enzymes and biosynthesis pathways for production of novel polyethers for drug development.
