Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility

Glycosylation is a common modification reaction in natural product biosynthesis and has been known to be a post-assembly line tailoring process in glycosylated polyketide biosynthesis. Here, we show that in pactamycin biosynthesis, glycosylation can take place on an acyl carrier protein (ACP)-bound polyketide intermediate. Using in vivo gene inactivation, chemical complementation and in vitro pathway reconstitution, we demonstrate that the 3-aminoacetophenone moiety of pactamycin is derived from 3-aminobenzoic acid by a set of discrete polyketide synthase proteins via a 3-(3-aminophenyl)3-oxopropionyl-ACP intermediate. This ACP-bound intermediate is then glycosylated by an N-glycosyltransferase, PtmJ, providing a sugar precursor for the formation of the aminocyclopentitol core structure of pactamycin. This is the first example of glycosylation of a small molecule while tethered to a carrier protein. Additionally, we demonstrate that PtmO is a hydrolase that is responsible for the release of the ACP-bound product to a free β-ketoacid that subsequently undergoes decarboxylation.