Biochemical and genetic basis of natural product biosynthesis in social amoebae

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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.