Natural Product Biosynthetic Diversity and Comparative Genomics of the Cyanobacteria

Cyanobacteria are an ancient lineage of slow-growing photosynthetic bacteria and a prolific source of natural products with intricate chemical structures and potent biological activities. The bulk of these natural products are known from just a handful of genera. Recent efforts have elucidated the mechanisms underpinning the biosynthesis of a diverse array of natural products from cyanobacteria. Many of the biosynthetic mechanisms are unique to cyanobacteria or rarely described from other organisms. Advances in genome sequence technology have precipitated a deluge of genome sequences for cyanobacteria. This makes it possible to link known natural products to biosynthetic gene clusters but also accelerates the discovery of new natural products through genome mining. These studies demonstrate that cyanobacteria encode a huge variety of cryptic gene clusters for the production of natural products, and the known chemical diversity is likely to be just a fraction of the true biosynthetic capabilities of this fascinating and ancient group of organisms.

TrendsCyanobacteria are a prolific source of natural products, and emerging data are providing a genetic basis to the natural product diversity.Advances in genome sequencing are rapidly linking natural products to natural product biosynthetic gene clusters.Bioinformatic analysis has identified a wealth of orphan and cryptic biosynthetic genes, demonstrating that the known natural product diversity is just a fraction of the true metabolic potential of cyanobacteria.