Tuesday, August 3, 2010: 2:00 PM
Seacliff CD (Hyatt Regency San Francisco)
Marine invertebrate animals such as ascidians (tunicates) contain a wealth of natural products for drug discovery, including clinically approved agents. Many of these compounds are synthesized by symbiotic bacteria, including cyanobacteria and others. We took a metagenomic approach to examine the biosynthetic potential of whole animal assemblages for the production of diverse natural products. The resulting biosynthetic pathways have been applied to supplying known natural products, discovering new natural products, and engineering the synthesis of new molecules with new activities. Other pathways are newly discovered and have not yet been applied, but have potential as antimicrobial or anticancer agents. Recent advances in using metagenomics in marine natural product discovery, supply, and engineering will be discussed.