Hunt for reactive metabolites uncovers unusual chemistry in a human pathogen

A workflow was developed to selectively capture bacterially produced compounds containing a reactive diazo chemical group. This enabled the discovery of two diazo-containing molecules from a bacterium that causes lung disease. Investigation of the bacterial synthesis of these molecules revealed an enzyme that constructs the diazo group, with broad synthetic applications. Finding out how microbes make compounds containing the diazo chemical group could help researchers to synthesize useful molecules.