CHED 1498 |
| Natural products represent a vast structural diversity not matched by any other sources of small molecules, and natural products remain the best source and inspiration of new drug discovery and development. In spite of the huge molecular space natural products cover, the biosynthetic machinery for natural products is remarkably conserved. Recent advances in understanding the genetics, biochemistry, and chemistry of natural product biosynthetic pathways are shedding new insights into how these relatively conserved pathways are evolved to account for the myriad of structural diversity seen with natural products. It is now also possible to engineer natural product biosynthetic machinery to make “designer” natural products and exploit genetic signatures of biosynthetic machinery to search for “yet-to-be-discovered” natural products. Examples from our current studies on polyketide and peptide natural product biosynthesis and engineering will be presented to highlight the progress in this field. |
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Chemical Evolution from Origins of Life to Modern Society
1:30 PM-4:55 PM, Tuesday, April 8, 2008 Hilton New Orleans Riverside -- Jasperwood, Oral
Division of Chemical Education |