SUMMARY Targeted cancer therapies that use genetics are successful, but principles for selectively targeting tumor metabolism that is also dependent on the environment remain unknown. We now show that differences in rate-controlling enzymes during the Warburg Effect (WE), the most prominent hallmark of cancer cell metabolism, can be used to predict a response to targeting glucose metabolism. We establish a natural product, koningic acid (KA), to be a selective inhibitor of GAPDH, an enzyme we characterize to have differential control properties over metabolism during the WE. With machine learning and integrated pharmacogenomics and metabolomics, we demonstrate that KA efficacy is not determined by the status of individual genes, but by the quantitative extent of the WE leading to a therapeutic window in vivo. Thus, the basis of targeting of the WE can be encoded by molecular principles that extend beyond the status of individual genes.

Plants and animals detect the presence of potential pathogens through the perception of conserved microbial patterns by cell surface receptors. Certain solanaceous plants, including tomato, potato and pepper, detect flgII-28, a region of bacterial flagellin that is distinct from that perceived by the well-characterized FLAGELLIN-SENSING 2 receptor. Here we identify and characterize the receptor responsible for this recognition in tomato, called FLAGELLIN-SENSING 3. This receptor binds flgII-28 and enhances immune responses leading to a reduction in bacterial colonization of leaf tissues. Further characterization of FLS3 and its signalling pathway could provide new insights into the plant immune system and transfer of the receptor to other crop plants offers the potential of enhancing resistance to bacterial pathogens that have evolved to evade FLS2-mediated immunity.

Small molecules (SMs) play central roles as virulence factors of pathogenic fungi and bacteria; however, genomic analyses suggest that the majority of microbial SMs have remained uncharacterized. Based on microarray analysis followed by comparative metabolomics of overexpression/knockout mutants we identified a tryptophan-derived iron(III)-complex, hexadehydroastechrome (HAS), as the major product of the cryptic has non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) gene cluster in the human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. Activation of the has cluster created a highly virulent A. fumigatus strain that increased mortality of infected mice. Comparative metabolomics of different mutant strains allowed to propose a pathway for HAS biosynthesis and further revealed cross-talk with another NRPS pathway producing the anti-cancer fumitremorgins.

Thiocillins from Bacillus cereus ATCC 14579 are members of the well-known thiazolyl peptide class of natural product antibiotics, the biosynthesis of which has recently been shown to proceed via posttranslational modification of ribosomally encoded precursor peptides. It has long been hypothesized that the final step of thiazolyl peptide biosynthesis involves a formal [4 + 2] cycloaddition between two dehydroalanines, a unique transformation that had eluded enzymatic characterization. Here we demonstrate that TclM, a single enzyme from the thiocillin biosynthetic pathway, catalyzes this transformation. To facilitate characterization of this new class of enzyme, we have developed a combined chemical and biological route to the complex peptide substrate, relying on chemical synthesis of a modified C-terminal fragment and coupling to a 38-residue leader peptide by means of native chemical ligation (NCL). This strategy, combined with active enzyme, provides a new chemoenzymatic route to this promising class of antibiotics.