Antimycin

These specialized metabolites likely function to kill neighboring organisms in order to provide the streptomyces bacteria with a competitive edge.

The assembly requires 14 proteins, AntBCDEFGHIJKLMNO, which shuttle the intermediates along the assembly line through a series of transesterifications, keto reductions, thiolations (addition of a sulfur containing group), condensations, and adenylations.

The following steps describe chemically what the Ant Enzymes do in order to synthesize Antimycin.

The indole ring of tryptophan, an amino acid, is opened by a pathway-specific tryptophan-2.3-dioxygnease, AntN, to make N-formyl-L-kynurenine.

AntM catalyses the reduction of the β-keto group, which precedes the AntD TE domain – promoted release of the nine-membered dilactone[1] 8.