S64: Mining enzymes from fungal secondary metabolism as biocatalysts

Microbial and plant natural products are among the most important pharmaceutical compounds known to mankind.  These compounds are produced by dedicated metabolic pathways using enzymes that possess remarkable catalytic power.   Genome sequencing of many microbial species has revealed tremendous diversity among natural product biosynthetic pathways.  Enzymes discovered from these pathways collectively constitute a versatile molecular toolbox that can be utilized towards the synthesis of unnatural variations on complex natural products.  In this talk, we will present our recent results in turning some enzymes from fungal secondary metabolism into useful biocatalysts for synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant compounds.