S27: Piecing together the modular polyketide synthase puzzle

A principal goal of those studying assembly line enzymes is to engineer them to produce new molecules. The field of modular polyketide synthases is maturing, with all of the common domains having been structurally characterized and assays for isolated enzymes having been developed. We must now understand collections of domains known as modules. This seminar will describe advances in our understanding of the architectures of modules and multimodular polyketide synthases as well as our ability to analyze the function of modules in vitro and employ them in the synthesis of complex polyketides.