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Polyketide stellen aufgrund ihrer großen strukturellen Vielfalt nach wie vor Leit- und Wirkstoffe für die Pharma- und Pflanzenschutzforschung in den Industrieländern dar und bilden außerdem eine der wichtigsten Klassen von Naturstoffen (Sekundärmetaboliten) überhaupt. Besonders die Biosynthese aromatischer Polyketide und die hierbei involvierten Enzyme, die Polyketidsynthasen (PKS), wurden von Biosyntheseforschern als hervorragendes Modellsystem zur Untersuchung von Struktur-Funktions-Beziehungen von Multienzymkomplexen erkannt. Für annelierte aromatische Polyketide existiert seit dem Jahr 2001 eine biosynthetische Klassifizierung auf Metabolitebene, das sogenannte Modus-F/S-System, mit dessen Hilfe man zwischen pro- und eukaryotischen Produzenten unterscheiden kann. Die Erforschung der detaillierten Biosynthese von aromatischen Polyketiden ist somit in mehrfacher Hinsicht ein lohnendes Ziel. In der vorliegenden Dissertation sollten die Biosynthese und die Faltungsmodi ausgewählter aromatischer Polyketide einschließlich der Charakterisierung potentieller Vorstufen in verschiedensten biologischen Systemen untersucht werden. Die dabei gewonnenen Resultate sind das Ergebnis interdisziplinärer Zusammenarbeit. / Polyketides constitute one of the most important classes of natural products (secondary metabolites) because of their vast structural variety. The pharmaceutical and crop protection companies still generate a great deal of lead structures based on polyketides. In particular the biosynthesis of aromatic polyketides and the enzymes involved therein, the polyketide synthases (PKSs), have been recognized by researchers as an ideal model system for the study of structure-function relationships in multienzyme complexes. Since 2001, a classification of fused-ring aromatic polyketides at a metabolic level exists: the so-called F/S-mode-system. This method enables the experimenter to determine the biological origin (prokaryotes vs. eukaryotes) of a polyketidic natural product. Therefore, to investigate the detailed biosynthesis of aromatic polyketides is a rewarding goal in many aspects. This thesis deals with the biosynthesis and the determination of polyketide folding modes of selected fused-ring aromatic polyketides in various biological systems. In addition, the structural elucidation of potential biosynthetic intermediates has been achieved. The findings reported here arose from fruitful interdisciplinary cooperations.

Lichens produce a diverse array of bioactive secondary metabolites, many of which are unique to the organisms. Their potential applications, however, are limited by their finite sources and the slow-growing nature of the organisms in both laboratory and environmental conditions. This thesis set out to investigate polyketide synthase genes in lichens, with the ultimate goal of providing a sustainable source of lichen natural products to support these applications. To expand the diversity of PKS genes that could be detected in lichens, new degenerate primers targeting ketoacylsynthase (KS) domains of specific clades of PKS genes have been developed and tested on various lichen samples. Using these primers, 19 KS domains from various lichens were obtained. Phylogenetic analysis of the KS domains was used to infer the function of the PKS genes based on the predicted PKS domain architecture and chemical analysis by TLC and/or HPLC. KS domains from PKS clades not previously known in lichens were identified; this included the clade III NR (non-reducing)-PKSs, PR (partially reducing)-PKSs and HR (highly reducing)-PKSs. The discovery of clade III NR-PKSs with C-methyltransferase (CMeT) domain and their wide occurrence in lichens was especially significant. Based on the KS domain phylogenetic analysis and compounds detected in the individual lichens, the clade III NR-PKSs were hypothesized to be involved in the biosynthesis of β-orsellinic acid and methylphloroacetopheno ne - the monoaromatic precursors for many lichen coupled phenolic compounds, such as β-orcinol depsides/depsidones and usnic acid. A strategy has been developed to isolate clade III NR-PKSs directly from environmental lichen DNA using clade III NR-type KS amplified from the degenerate primers (NR3KS-F/R) as homologous probes. Another pair of degenerate primers specific to the CMeT domain of NR-PKSs has also been developed to facilitate the cloning and probing of new clade III NR-PKS genes in lichens. A clade III NR-PKS gene (xsepks1) from X. semiviridis was cloned successfully. This is the first report of the isolation of a full-length PKS gene from environmental lichen DNA. The domain architecture of xsepks1 is KS-AT-ACP-CMeT, as expected for a clade III NR-PKS, suggesting that the newly developed clade-specific primers are useful for cloning new clade III NR-PKS genes and that KS domain phylogenetic analysis can predict the functional domains in PKSs. Attempts were made to characterize the function of xsepks1 by heterologous expression in Aspergillus species. Both A. nidulans (transformed with 5´partial xsepks1 including native promoter) and A. oryzae (transformed with full-length xsepks1 under the regulation of starch-inducible amyB promoter) were tested as potential hosts for the expression of lichen PKS genes. Transcriptional analysis showed that A. nidulans could potentially utilize the lichen PKS gene promoter and both fungal hosts could splice the introns of a lichen PKS gene. Several compounds unique to the A. oryzae transformants carrying xsepks1 were detected, but they could not be reproduced in subsequent fermentations even though the gene was transcribed into mRNA. None of the expected products (β-orsellinic acid, methylphloroacetophenone or similar methylated monoaromatic compounds) was detected in A. oryzae transformants, and the function of xsepks1 remains to be determined. The other clade III NR-PKS genes detected in X. semiviridis cou ld also be responsible for the biosynthesis of β-orsellinic acid or methylphloroacetophenone, as precursors of the major secondary metabolites detected in X. semiviridis (i.e. fumarprotocetraric acid, succinprotocetraric acid and usnic acid). Overall, the work in this thesis demonstrated the prospect of using a molecular approach to access the lichen biosynthetic potential without going through the cumbersome culturing stage.

Bacterial polyketides possess an enormous range of chemical diversity and biological function. Many polyketides such as tetracycline, epothilone, and rapamycin have been developed into key clinical pharmaceuticals in a broad range of therapeutic areas. Sequencing of bacterial genomes has shown that there are many more polyketide biosynthetic pathways than there are polyketides isolated from standard cultivation techniques. These genetically encoded polyketide natural products from cultivatable and uncultivatable bacteria represent one of the greatest remaining untapped reservoirs of new natural product diversity. To access this untapped diversity of polyketide products, a general method for heterologous expression of these pathways is needed. Heterologous expression has proven to be a valuable asset in the discovery, production, engineering, and characterization of bacterial secondary metabolites and the complex enzymology involved in their biosynthesis. Herein we discuss the development and investigation of two unique heterologous expression platforms utilizing host strains of Myxococcus xanthus and Escherichia coli. Using our developed heterologous hosts, we were able to produce the Streptomyces rimosus polyketide oxytetracycline. Through production of oxytetracycline in E .coli we have identified the potential of alternative transcription factors as regulators of secondary metabolism. Further investigation and development of alternative transcription factors as regulators of secondary metabolism in heterologous hosts could benefit the development of robust general methodology for the heterologous expression of polyketides.

Bacterial polyketides possess an enormous range of chemical diversity and biological function. Many polyketides such as tetracycline, epothilone, and rapamycin have been developed into key clinical pharmaceuticals in a broad range of therapeutic areas. Sequencing of bacterial genomes has shown that there are many more polyketide biosynthetic pathways than there are polyketides isolated from standard cultivation techniques. These genetically encoded polyketide natural products from cultivatable and uncultivatable bacteria represent one of the greatest remaining untapped reservoirs of new natural product diversity. To access this untapped diversity of polyketide products, a general method for heterologous expression of these pathways is needed. Heterologous expression has proven to be a valuable asset in the discovery, production, engineering, and characterization of bacterial secondary metabolites and the complex enzymology involved in their biosynthesis. Herein we discuss the development and investigation of two unique heterologous expression platforms utilizing host strains of Myxococcus xanthus and Escherichia coli. Using our developed heterologous hosts, we were able to produce the Streptomyces rimosus polyketide oxytetracycline. Through production of oxytetracycline in E .coli we have identified the potential of alternative transcription factors as regulators of secondary metabolism. Further investigation and development of alternative transcription factors as regulators of secondary metabolism in heterologous hosts could benefit the development of robust general methodology for the heterologous expression of polyketides.

Bacterial polyketides possess an enormous range of chemical diversity and biological function. Many polyketides such as tetracycline, epothilone, and rapamycin have been developed into key clinical pharmaceuticals in a broad range of therapeutic areas. Sequencing of bacterial genomes has shown that there are many more polyketide biosynthetic pathways than there are polyketides isolated from standard cultivation techniques. These genetically encoded polyketide natural products from cultivatable and uncultivatable bacteria represent one of the greatest remaining untapped reservoirs of new natural product diversity. To access this untapped diversity of polyketide products, a general method for heterologous expression of these pathways is needed. Heterologous expression has proven to be a valuable asset in the discovery, production, engineering, and characterization of bacterial secondary metabolites and the complex enzymology involved in their biosynthesis. Herein we discuss the development and investigation of two unique heterologous expression platforms utilizing host strains of Myxococcus xanthus and Escherichia coli. Using our developed heterologous hosts, we were able to produce the Streptomyces rimosus polyketide oxytetracycline. Through production of oxytetracycline in E .coli we have identified the potential of alternative transcription factors as regulators of secondary metabolism. Further investigation and development of alternative transcription factors as regulators of secondary metabolism in heterologous hosts could benefit the development of robust general methodology for the heterologous expression of polyketides.

Zugl.: Kaiserslautern, Techn. Univ., Diss., 2008

Bacterial polyketides possess an enormous range of chemical diversity and biological function. Many polyketides such as tetracycline, epothilone, and rapamycin have been developed into key clinical pharmaceuticals in a broad range of therapeutic areas. Sequencing of bacterial genomes has shown that there are many more polyketide biosynthetic pathways than there are polyketides isolated from standard cultivation techniques. These genetically encoded polyketide natural products from cultivatable and uncultivatable bacteria represent one of the greatest remaining untapped reservoirs of new natural product diversity. To access this untapped diversity of polyketide products, a general method for heterologous expression of these pathways is needed. Heterologous expression has proven to be a valuable asset in the discovery, production, engineering, and characterization of bacterial secondary metabolites and the complex enzymology involved in their biosynthesis. Herein we discuss the development and investigation of two unique heterologous expression platforms utilizing host strains of Myxococcus xanthus and Escherichia coli. Using our developed heterologous hosts, we were able to produce the Streptomyces rimosus polyketide oxytetracycline. Through production of oxytetracycline in E .coli we have identified the potential of alternative transcription factors as regulators of secondary metabolism. Further investigation and development of alternative transcription factors as regulators of secondary metabolism in heterologous hosts could benefit the development of robust general methodology for the heterologous expression of polyketides.

Lichens are known producers of a variety of secondary metabolites. Fungal polyketides constitute a large family of these secondary metabolites that have a high degree of struc-tural diversity. Usnic acid is a lichen metabolite that has a broad range of biological ac-tivities. However the use of usnic acid in medical applications is limited due to the slow growth of the lichen in nature. In order to conduct in depth studies on compounds such as usnic acid it will be necessary to express their gene clusters in fast growing organisms. To achieve this goal, polyketide biosynthesis in the lichen fungi Cladonia uncialis has been investigated to identify the gene clusters that are responsible for secondary metabo-lites production. This thesis reports the de novo whole-genome sequencing of the lichen Cladonia un-cialis, in silico analysis of polyketide biosynthetic gene clusters, and putative identifica-tion and annotation of 56 different secondary metabolite gene clusters. The identified gene clusters include thirty two different type I polyketide synthase genes (non-reducing, partly reducing and highly reducing PKS genes) gene clusters besides two gene clusters of type III PKS gene, three independent, novel non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) biosynthetic gene clusters, as well as seven noncanonical NRPS genes that did not contain condensation (C) domains, three polyketide non-ribosomal (PKS-NRP) hy-brid gene clusters, one lanthipeptide synthase gene and six different terpene synthase gene clusters. Out of 32 candidate genes a single PKS has been identified as being re-sponsible for usnic acid biosynthesis. The structure of one of the lichen non-reducing PKS genes that is responsible for produc-tion of a halogenated lichen metabolite was also studied. Based on the biosynthetic opera-tions of the gene cluster as well as catalogued examples of halogenated polyketides iso-lated from lichen fungi to date, this study suggests that the gene cluster is a biosynthetic gene for an unidentified anthraquinone. The ketosynthase and the acyltransferase do-mains among two different non reducing PKS genes from Cladonia uncialis genome se-quence are also studied. The amino acid sequences of the domains are confirmed by us-ing mass spectrometry. Protein homology modeling was performed using the Swiss-Model server. The generated protein models were visualized using LASERGENE Pro-tean 3D molecular visualization system. / May 2015

This thesis is divided into two parts. Part 1 covers the biosynthesis of the fungal metabolite tenellin, and Part 2 the metabolism of β-aminoisobutyrate m Streptomyces sp. Tenellin is a yellow pigment of the fungus Beamaria bassiana. It is of mixed biosynthetic origin, being derived from a polyketide moiety and the amino acid L-phenylalanine. The timing of the C-methylations of the polyketide chain is discussed in Chapter 2, which describes attempts to incorporate deuterium labelled partially assembled putative intermediates into the polyketide. The biosynthesis of the pyridone ring of tenellin requkes the condensation of the polyketide moiety with a rearranged phenylpropanoid unit derived from phenylalanine. The nature of this intriguing intramolecular rearrangement is discussed in Chapters 3 and 4. A phenylalanine derived tetramic acid, proposed as an intermediate in the biosynthesis, has been synthesised, and used in biosynthetic investigations. The results of these investigations and the subsequent identification of tyrosine as a closer precursor to tenellin argue against its intermediacy. The failure of [2-(^13)C(^2)H(^15)N]-phenylalanine to become incorporated intact suggests a transamination process for phenylalanine / tyrosine prior to incorporation. Preliminary investigations suggest para-hydroxy phenyllactate may be die substrate for the rearranging enzyme and a more direct precursor to tenellin. β-Aminoisobutyrate, the end product of reductive thymine catabolism, contributes to both the propionate and butyrate pools in Streptomyces sp. The pathway of incorporation into the isobutyrate / butyrate pool has been investigated, and confirmed to be the reverse of that known to occur in L-valine metabolism. A mutant strain of Streptomyces avemitilis, unable to produce isobutyrate, was used due to low level incorporations into the branched-chain fatty acids. This work was carried out in collaboration with Dr. Hamish McArthur, Pfizer Central Research Division, Groton, USA, and Dr. Kevin Reynolds, Department of Pharmaceutical Science, University of Maryland.