S186: Production of the Complex Polyketide Antibiotic Erythromycin A Using E. coli as a Heterologous Host

This presentation will detail recent work to produce the polyketide antibiotic erythromycin A using Escherichia coli as a heterologous host.  Broadly, our laboratory strives to establish and optimize natural product formation using heterologous host systems.  The motivation for doing so is two-fold.  First, there is the desire to continually access the tremendous medicinal value associated with natural products.  Second, challenges in over-producing and/or manipulating biosynthesis through native hosts have spurred the emergence of heterologous biosynthesis as a means to exert control over the processes responsible for natural product formation.  In this talk, specifics will be presented regarding the logic and success in producing erythromycin A using E. coli.  The presentation will also feature engineering strategies our group has used in an effort to maximize and alter heterologous production once achieved.