Biochemical and genetic basis of natural product biosynthesis in social amoebae

社会阿米巴是真核生物的一个单系类群，徘徊在单细胞和多细胞之间。孤立细胞生活在土壤中，以细菌为食，但它们可以聚集成多细胞有机体，最终形成包含休眠孢子的子实体，从而对不利的环境条件做出反应。盘状网柄菌基因组编码大量的聚酮合成酶(PKS)基因，这意味着细胞在某些环境刺激下或在单细胞或多细胞生命周期的特定阶段可能产生大量的聚酮类天然产物。本项目的目的是阐明盘形藻在不同生长条件下和生物体多细胞发育过程中次生代谢产物的谱。我们将把聚酮类天然产物的生化分离和鉴定与盘状芽孢杆菌突变株的分析联系起来，以深入了解分离出的化合物的生物合成途径及其潜在的生物活性和与化学生态的相关性。

Social amoebae are a monophyletic group of eukaryotic organisms that hover on the borderline between uni- and multicellularity. Solitary cells live in soil and feed on bacteria, but they can respond to unfavorable environmental conditions by aggregating into multicellular organisms that eventually form fruiting bodies containing dormant spores. The genome of Dictyostelium discoideum encodes an unexpectedly large number of polyketide synthase (PKS) genes, thus implying a substantial repertoire of polyketide natural products that may be produced by the cells under certain environmental stimuli or at particular phases of their unicellular or multicellular life cycle. The aim of this project is to elucidate the spectrum of secondary metabolites of D. discoideum under various growth conditions and during the multicellular development of the organism. We will link the biochemical isolation and identification of polyketide natural products with the analysis of D. discoideum mutants defective in selected PKS genes to gain insight into the biosynthetic pathways of the isolated compounds and their potential biological activities and relevance for chemical ecology.