Researchers at JBEI and ABPDU have developed a new polyketide synthase-based platform
Microbial production of biofuels and bioproducts is typically carried out using natural or slightly modified enzymes within the metabolic pathway, which can inherently limit the types of molecules that can be produced. Type I modular polyketide synthases (PKSs) are multi-domain enzymes that resemble a modular metabolic assembly line that naturally produces a wide range of unique and diverse molecular structures by combining particular types of catalytic domains in a Lego®-like fashion. This versatile biocatalytic mechanism intrinsically offers a wealth of bioengineering opportunities that scientists can exploit to improve both the rate and yield of the biofuels and bioproducts generated by PKSs.