New workflow for the structure elucidation of trace amount natural products with microgram-scale crystalline sponge method: a scaled-down genome-mining study

Abstract Genome mining, an effective approach to natural product discovery, often requires large-scale cultivation (several to dozens of liters). Here, we demonstrate that the crystalline sponge method significantly reduces the cultivation scale as the method requires only a microgram quantity of an analyte. Prior to the NMR study, we directly addressed the X-ray structure of a natural product from a terpene synthase, which was heterologously expressed by only a 25-mL scale cultivation.