Type III polyketide synthases in microorganisms.

Type III polyketide synthases (PKSs) are simple homodimers of ketosynthases which catalyze the condensation of one to several molecules of extender substrate onto a starter substrate through iterative decarboxylative Claisen condensation reactions. Type III PKSs have been found in bacteria and fungi, as well as plants. Microbial type III PKSs, which are involved in the biosynthesis of some lipidic compounds and various secondary metabolites, have several interesting characteristics that are not shared by plant type III PKSs. Further, many compounds produced by microbial type III PKSs have significant biological functions and/or important pharmaceutical activities. Thus, studies on this class of enzymes will expand our knowledge of the biosynthetic machineries that generate natural products and generate new findings about microbial physiology. The recent development of next-generation DNA sequencing has allowed for an increase in the number of microbial genomes sequenced and the discovery of many microbial type III PKS genes. Here, we describe basic methods to study microbial type III PKSs whose genes are easy to clone.