Symbiotic bacteria synthesize many specialized small molecules; however, establishing the role these chemicals play in human health and disease has been difficult. Now, the chemical structure and mechanism of the Escherichia coli product colibactin provides insight into the link between this secondary metabolite and colorectal cancer.
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Schmidt, E. Hunting microbial metabolites. Nature Chem 7, 375–376 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2252
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2252
