Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Biochemistry

Life imitates art

The biosynthetic route to a naturally occurring insecticide, spinosyn A, has been established. One of the enzymes involved might catalyse a reaction that, although widely used by chemists, has proved elusive in nature. See Letter p.109

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: The biosynthesis of spinosyn A.

References

  1. Huisgen, R. Angew. Chem. Int. Edn 7, 321–328 (1968).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Kim, H. J., Ruszczycky, M. W., Choi, S., Liu, Y. & Liu, H. Nature 473, 109–112 (2011).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Kirst, H. A. J. Antibiot. 63, 101–111 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Waldron, C. et al. Chem. Biol. 8, 487–499 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Kim, H. J., Pongdee, R., Wu, Q., Hong, L. & Liu, H. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 129, 14582–14584 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Mergott, D. J., Frank, S. A. & Roush, W. R. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 101, 11955–11959 (2004).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Auclair, K. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 122, 11519–11520 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Kasahara, K. et al. ChemBioChem 11, 1245–1252 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Kim, R.-R. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 132, 2983–2990 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Watanabe, K., Mie, T., Ichihara, A., Oikawa, H. & Honma, M. J. Biol. Chem. 275, 38393–38401 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Ma, S. M. et al. Science 326, 589–592 (2009).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Guimarães, C. R. W., Udier-Blagović, M. & Jorgensen, W. L. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 127, 3577–3588 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Serafimov, J. M., Gillingham, D., Kuster, S. & Hilvert, D. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130, 7798–7799 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wendy L. Kelly.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kelly, W. Life imitates art. Nature 473, 35–36 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/473035a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/473035a

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing