S152: Reprogramming the biosynthesis of natural products using synthetic biology

Synthetic biology is a powerful philosphy for re-engineering biological systems for new functions.  Key to the success of this approach is the provision of enzymes tailor made for specific, non-natural functions. Here, we describe our enzyme engineering efforts aimed at providing the enzymatic machinery required for construction of a designed artifical biosynthetic pathway capable of producing non-natural regioselectively modified polyketides. Ultimately, we hope to improve the scope and utility of polyketide combinatorial biosynthesis for the synthesis of polyketide analogues and drug discovery.