Discovery and Assembly-Line Biosynthesis of the Lymphostin Pyrroloquinoline Alkaloid Family of mTOR Inhibitors in Salinispora Bacteria

• Published in: Journal of the American Chemical Society Vol. 133; no. 34; pp. 13311 - 13313
• Main Authors: Miyanaga, Akimasa, Janso, Jeffrey E, McDonald, Leonard, He, Min, Liu, Hongbo, Barbieri, Laurel, Eustáquio, Alessandra S, Fielding, Elisha N, Carter, Guy T, Jensen, Paul R, Feng, Xidong, Leighton, Margaret, Koehn, Frank E, Moore, Bradley S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: WASHINGTON American Chemical Society 31.08.2011; Amer Chemical Soc
• Subjects: Actinomycetales - chemistry; Actinomycetales - metabolism; Alkaloids - chemistry; Alkaloids - metabolism; Alkaloids - pharmacology; Chemistry; Chemistry, Multidisciplinary; Enzyme Inhibitors - chemistry; Enzyme Inhibitors - metabolism; Enzyme Inhibitors - pharmacology; Physical Sciences; Pyrroles - chemistry; Pyrroles - metabolism; Pyrroles - pharmacology; Quinolines - chemistry; Quinolines - metabolism; Quinolines - pharmacology; Science & Technology; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases - antagonists & inhibitors; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases - metabolism; AMMOSAMIDES; STREPTOMYCES SP KY11783; IMMUNOSUPPRESSANT; LK6-A; SPONGE ZYZZYA-FULIGINOSA; FRUITING BODIES
• ISSN: 0002-7863; 1520-5126
• DOI: 10.1021/ja205655w

The pyrroloquinoline alkaloid family of natural products, which includes the immunosuppressant lymphostin, has long been postulated to arise from tryptophan. We now report the molecular basis of lymphostin biosynthesis in three marine Salinispora species that maintain conserved biosynthetic gene clusters harboring a hybrid nonribosomal peptide synthetase–polyketide synthase that is central to lymphostin assembly. Through a series of experiments involving gene mutations, stable isotope profiling, and natural product discovery, we report the assembly-line biosynthesis of lymphostin and nine new analogues that exhibit potent mTOR inhibitory activity.