Diethyl(prop-2-(E)-enyl)phosphonate

Fosmidomycin biosynthesis diverges from related phosphonate natural products

Parkinson E I, Erb A, Eliot A C, et al

Nature chemical biology, 2019, 15(11): 1049-1056

Fosmidomycin and related molecules comprise a family of phosphonate natural products with potent antibacterial, antimalarial and herbicidal activities. To understand the biosynthesis of these compounds, we characterized the fosmidomycin producer, Streptomyces lavendulae, using biochemical and genetic approaches. We were unable to elicit production of fosmidomycin, instead observing the unsaturated derivative dehydrofosmidomycin, which we showed potently inhibits 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase and has bioactivity against a number of bacteria. The genes required for dehydrofosmi...