Non-Heme Iron Enzymes Catalyze Heterobicyclic and Spirocyclic Isoquinolone Core Formation in Piperazine Alkaloid Biosynthesis

Abstract

We report the discovery and biosynthesis of new piperazine alkaloids-arizonamides, and their derived compounds-arizolidines, featuring heterobicyclic and spirocyclic isoquinolone skeletons, respectively. Their biosynthetic pathway involves two crucial non-heme iron enzymes, ParF and ParG, for core skeleton construction. ParF has a dual function facilitating 2,3-alkene formation of helvamide, as a substrate for ParG, and oxidative cleavage of piperazine. Notably, ParG exhibits catalytic versatility in multiple oxidative reactions, including cyclization and ring reconstruction. A key amino acid residue Phe67 was characterized to control the formation of the constrained arizonamide B backbone by ParG.

Keywords: alkaloids; biosynthesis; natural products; non-heme iron-dependent oxygenases; piperazine.