The Japanese marine sponge Discodermia calyx contains a major cytotoxic compound, calyculin A, which exhibits selective inhibition of protein phosphatases 1 and 2A. It has long been used as a chemical tool to evaluate intracellular signal transduction regulated by reversible protein phosphorylation. We describe the identification of the biosynthetic gene cluster of calyculin A by a metagenome mining approach. Single-cell analysis revealed that the gene cluster originates in the symbiont bacterium 'Candidatus Entotheonella' sp. A phosphotransferase encoded in the gene cluster deactivated calyculin A to produce a newly discovered diphosphate, which was actually the biosynthetic end product. The diphosphate had been previously overlooked because of the enzymatic dephosphorylation that occurred in response to sponge tissue disruption. Our work presents what is to our knowledge the first evidence for the biosynthetic process of calyculin A along with a notable phosphorylation-dephosphorylation mechanism to regulate toxicity, suggesting activated chemical defense in the most primitive of all multicellular animals.

Polyketides form many clinically valuable compounds. However, manipulation of their biosynthesis remains highly challenging. An understanding of gene cluster evolution provides a rationale for reprogramming of the biosynthetic machinery. Herein, we report characterization of giant modular polyketide synthases (PKSs) responsible for the production of aminopolyol polyketides. Heterologous expression of over 150 kbp polyketide gene clusters successfully afforded their products, whose stereochemistry was established by taking advantage of bioinformatic analysis. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis of highly homologous but functionally diverse domains from the giant PKSs demonstrated the evolutionary mechanism for structural diversification of polyketides. The gene clusters characterized herein, together with their evolutionary insights, are promising genetic building blocks for de novo production of unnatural polyketides.

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Background and Purpose: To assess the usefulness of transcranial Doppler sonography, we investigated the rate of blood flow signal recording failure in the middle cerebral artery in Japanese subjects. Furthermore, we studied the effect of increased emitted power on the rate of successful recording in some of the patients in whom recording failure had been detected at the standard transducer power of 100

Pactamycin is an aminocyclopentitol-derived natural product that has potent antibacterial and antitumor activities. Sequence analysis of an 86 kb continuous region of the chromosome from Streptomyces pactum ATCC 27456 revealed a gene cluster involved in the biosynthesis of pactamycin. Gene inactivation of the Fe-S radical SAM oxidoreductase (ptmC) and the glycosyltransferase (ptmJ), individually abrogated pactamycin biosynthesis; this confirmed the involvement of the ptm gene cluster in pactamycin biosynthesis. The polyketide synthase gene (ptmQ) was found to support 6-methylsalicylic acid (6-MSA) synthesis in a heterologous host, S. lividans T7. In vivo inactivation of ptmQ in S. pactum impaired pactamycin and pactamycate production but led to production of two new pactamycin analogues, de-6-MSA-pactamycin and de-6-MSA-pactamycate. The new compounds showed equivalent cytotoxic and antibacterial activities with the corresponding parent molecules and shed more light on the structure-activity relationship of pactamycin.