Structure investigation of nature polyether product biosynthesis

Qian Wang and Chu-Young Kim

Chemistry Department, College of Science, The University of Texas at El Paso

 

Polyether nature products have been of special attention because of their fascinating structure and biological effects. They are widely used as anticancer, antibiotics, and antivirus therapeutics. Lasalocid A is an ionophore polyether that can be synthesized by a series of enzymes Lsd11 to Lsd19 in Streptomyces lasaliensis. It contains a polycyclic ether skeleton constructed by enantioselective epoxidation and epoxide-opening cyclization. Our group has investigated the epoxide hydrolysis step in lasalocid A biosynthesis. Now our interest is in the epoxidation step where the ether ring stereoconfiguration is determined by the epoxidase Lsd18. Solving Lsd18 atomic structure using X-ray crystallography would help us understand the mechanism of ether ring stereocontrol.