Structural diversification of fungal natural products by oxidative enzymes

Abstract

Ascomycota and basidiomycota fungi are prolific producers of biologically active natural products. Fungal natural products exhibit remarkable structural diversity and complexity, which are generated by the enzymes involved in their biosynthesis. After the formation of core skeletons, oxidative enzymes play a critical role in converting them into mature natural products. Besides simple oxidations, more complex transformations, such as multiple oxidations by single enzymes, oxidative cyclization, and skeletal rearrangement, are often observed. Those oxidative enzymes are of significant interest for the identification of new enzyme chemistry and have the potential to be biocatalysts for the synthesis of complex molecules. This review presents selected examples of unique oxidative transformations that have been found in the biosynthesis of fungal natural products. The development of strategies for refactoring the fungal biosynthetic pathways with an efficient genome-editing method is also introduced.