Issue 4, 2024

Unusual cysteine modifications in natural product biosynthesis

Abstract

L-Cysteine is a highly reactive amino acid that is modified into a variety of chemical structures, including cysteine sulfinic acid in human metabolic pathways, and sulfur-containing scaffolds of amino acids, alkaloids, and peptides in natural product biosynthesis. Among the modification enzymes responsible for these cysteine-derived compounds, metalloenzymes constitute an important family of enzymes that catalyze a wide variety of reactions. Therefore, understanding their reaction mechanisms is important for the biosynthetic production of cysteine-derived natural products. This review mainly summarizes recent mechanistic investigations of metalloenzymes, with a particular focus on recently discovered mononuclear non-heme iron (NHI) enzymes, dinuclear NHI enzymes, and radical-SAM enzymes involved in unusual cysteine modifications in natural product biosynthesis.

Graphical abstract: Unusual cysteine modifications in natural product biosynthesis

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
20 Jan 2024
Accepted
08 Feb 2024
First published
09 Feb 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Chem. Biol., 2024,5, 293-311

Unusual cysteine modifications in natural product biosynthesis

Y. Gao, Y. Zhu, T. Awakawa and I. Abe, RSC Chem. Biol., 2024, 5, 293 DOI: 10.1039/D4CB00020J

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