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Synthesis and production of the antitumor polyketide aurovertins and structurally related compounds

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Abstract

Aurovertins belong to a family of highly reducing polyketides sharing a polyene α-pyrone-type structure. These compounds comprise aurovertin, asteltoxin, avertoxin, citreoviridin, verrucosidin, and their derivatives, which exihibit potent antitumor, antiviral, and antibacterial activities. Until now, over 40 aurovertins and structurally related compounds have been found in the fungal kingdom. Due to the unique structural feature and interesting bioactivities, significant progresses have been achieved for the structural identification, chemical synthesis, and biosynthesis of the mentioned compounds. Understanding of aurovertin biosynthetic mechanism provides a solid basis for engineering the metabolic pathway of those compounds by rational design and realizing their production in the model fungal host.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Prof. Shuming Li (Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany) and Dr. Haining Lyu (Institute of Microbiology, CAS, China) for the helpful discussions about the manuscript. W.B.Y. is a scholar of “the 100 Talents Project” of CAS.

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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31470178) and CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams.

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Correspondence to Wen-Bing Yin.

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Li, W., Ma, Z., Chen, L. et al. Synthesis and production of the antitumor polyketide aurovertins and structurally related compounds. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 102, 6373–6381 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-018-9123-1

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