Natural Products and the Gene Cluster Revolution

Genome sequencing has created unprecedented opportunities for natural-product discovery and new insight into the diversity and distributions of natural-product biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). These gene collectives are highly evolved for horizontal exchange, thus providing immediate opportunities...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in microbiology (Regular ed.) 2016-12, Vol.24 (12), p.968-977
Main Author: Jensen, Paul R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actinobacteria - genetics
Actinobacteria - metabolism
bioinformatics
Biological Products - isolation & purification
Biological Products - metabolism
biosynthetic gene clusters
Computational Biology
Genetic Variation
Genome, Bacterial
Genomics
Internal Medicine
Multigene Family
natural products
Salinispora
Secondary Metabolism
secondary metabolites
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Summary:Genome sequencing has created unprecedented opportunities for natural-product discovery and new insight into the diversity and distributions of natural-product biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). These gene collectives are highly evolved for horizontal exchange, thus providing immediate opportunities to test the effects of small molecules on fitness. The marine actinomycete genus Salinispora maintains extraordinary levels of BGC diversity and has become a useful model for studies of secondary metabolism. Most Salinispora BGCs are observed infrequently, resulting in high population-level diversity while conforming to constraints associated with maximum genome size. Comparative genomics is providing a mechanism to assess secondary metabolism in the context of evolution and evidence that some products represent ecotype-defining traits while others appear selectively neutral.
ISSN:0966-842X
1878-4380
DOI:10.1016/j.tim.2016.07.006