Genome Mining Reveals a Carboxyl <i>O</i>-Methyltransferase Gatekeeping the Biosynthetic Divergence of Tryptophan Dimers
Bacterial tryptophan dimers comprise a large family of natural products with promising biological activities. Herein, we report the identification of a methyltransferase, SpmM1, which acts as a gatekeeping enzyme to govern the divergent biosynthesis of tryptophan dimers spiroindimicins (SPMs) and indimicins (IDMs) in <i>Streptomyces marincola</i> SCSIO 03032. Bioinformatics, genetic, and biochemical studies revealed that SpmM1-catalyzed carboxyl <i>O</i>-methylation enabled the common precursor of SPMs and IDMs to flux into the spiro-forming pathway to generate SPMs.
Authors
- Xiao‐Nian Li
- Xinpeng Tian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5871-0062)
- Weiliang Xiong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-7008-3095)
- Liang Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8862-0674)
- Yiguang Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8737-8898)
- Liping Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8012-1408)
- Wenjun Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2677-3752)
- Zhiwen Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9049-1303)
- Changsheng Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2349-3138)
Institutions
- Kunming Institute of Botany (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Institute of Oceanology (CN)
- South China Sea Institute Of Oceanology (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Organic Letters
- Published
- 2025-04-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.orglett.5c01012
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.79