Dissonance Strikes a Chord in Stilbene Synthesizers

Cynthia K Holland; Barbara Cascella; Joseph M Jez

doi:10.1016/j.chembiol.2016.11.016

Dissonance Strikes a Chord in Stilbene Synthesizers

Cell Chem Biol. 2016 Dec 22;23(12):1440-1441. doi: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2016.11.016.

Authors

Cynthia K Holland¹, Barbara Cascella¹, Joseph M Jez²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, CB1137, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
² Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, CB1137, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. Electronic address: jjez@wustl.edu.

PMID: 28009974
DOI: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2016.11.016

Abstract

In this issue of Cell Chemical Biology, Mori et al. (2016) combine X-ray crystallography and biochemistry to discover a new mechanism for stilbene synthesis in bacteria. The dialkyl-condensing enzyme StlD catalyzes formation of cyclohexanediones using a non-canonical β-ketosynthase active site. Aromatization by StlC completes production of the stilbene product.