Main description:

Polyketides represent an array of often structurally complex natural products produced by diverse organisms, many of which are pharmacologically valuable. This book provides an excellent overview of the chemistry, genetics, physiology, and enzymology of these compounds. The biosynthesis of polyketides represents a fascinating and dynamic area of investigation, and many new paradigms have recently emerged. The complexity of many of these molecules often renders
their production via synthetic chemistry impractical; therefore an understanding of the chemistry and biology of systems producing these compounds will directly impact efforts toward the large scale industrial production of polyketides and polyketide-derivatives. The topics covered in this book range
from the cloning and characterization of novel poyketide syntheses, structural and functional analysis of enzyme catalysis, the genetic engineering of new polyketide syntheses enzymes by rational design, and large-scale polyketide production strategies using heterologous systems. Academic and industrial leaders from around the world working in the fields of medicine, microbiology, and plant biology have included some of their latest results for this volume.

Contents:

I. Introduction ; 1. A Plethora of Polyketides: Structures, Biological Activities, and Enzymes - Scott R. Baerson and Agnes M. Rimando ; II. Polyketide Biosynthesis in Plants and Microorganisms ; 2. Hygromycin A Biosynthesis - Nadaraj Palaniappan and Kevin Reynolds ; 3. The Biosynthesis of Polyketides, Tetramic Acids and Pyridones in Fungi - Russell J. Cox ; 4. Searching for Polyketides in Insect Pathogenic Fungi - Donna M. Gibson, Stuart B. Krasnoff, and Alice C.L. Churchill ; 5. Polyketide Biosynthesis in Fungi - Kenneth C. Ehrlich ; 6. Biochemical and Molecular Analysis of the Biosynthesis of Fumonisins - Liangcheng Du, Fengan Yu, Xiangcheng Zhu, Kathia Zaleta-Rivera, Ravi S. Bojja, Yousong Ding, Han Yi, and Qiaomei Wang ; 7. Benzoic Acid-Specific Polyketide Synthases from Plants L. Beerhues, B. Liu, T. Raeth, T. Klundt, T. Beuerle, and M.Bocola ; 8. Engineered Biosynthesis of Plant Polyketides - Ikuro Abe ; 9. Expression and Function of Aromatic Polyketide Synthase Genes in Raspberries (Rubus idaeus sp.) - Geza Hrazdina and Desen Zheng ; 10. Molecular and Biochemical Characterization of Novel Polyketide Synthases Likely to be Involved in the Biosynthesis of Sorgoleone - Daniel Cook, Franck E. Dayan, Agnes M. Rimando, N.P. Dhammika Nanayakkara, Zhiqiang Pan, Stephen O. Duke, and Scott R. Baerson ; III. Structural Organization and Reaction Mechanisms Utilized by Polyketide Synthases ; POLYKETIDE BIOSYNTHESIS BEYOND THE TYPE I, II, AND III POLYKETIDE SYNTHASE PARADIGMS: A PROGRESS REPORT - BEN SHEN, YI-QIANG CHENG, STEVEN D. CHRISTENSON, HUI JIANG, JIANHUA JU, HYUNG-JIN KWON, SI-KYU LIM, WEN LIU, KOICHI NONAKA, JEONG-WOO SEO, WYATT C. SMITH, SCOTT STANDAGE, GONG-LI TANG, STEVEN VAN LANEN, AND JIAN ZHANG ; 12. Structural Enzymology of Aromatic Polyketide Synthase - Tyler Paz Korman, Brian Douglas Ames, and Shiou-Chuan Tsai ; 13. Mechanisms of Type III Polyketide Synthase Functional Diversity. From 'Steric Modulation' to the 'Reaction Partitioning' Model - Michael B. Austin and Joseph P. Noel ; IV. Biotechnological Advances in Polyketide Biosynthesis ; 14. Novel Polyketides from Genetic Engineering (and lessons we have learned from making them) - Leonard Katz, Jonathan Kennedy, Sarah C. Mutka, John R. Carney, Karen S. MacMillan, and Sumati Murli ; 15. Biosynthesis of the Antifungal Polyketide Antibiotic Soraphen A in Sorangium cellulosum and Streptomyces lividans - Istvan Molnar, Ross Zirkle, and James M. Ligon ; 16. Engineering Starter Units in Aromatic Polyketides - Wenjun Zhang and Yi Tang ; 17. Aspergillus flavus Genomics for Discovering Genes Involved in Aflatoxin Biosynthesis - Jiujiang Yu and Thomas E. Cleveland