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Redefining the role of the EryM acetyltransferase in natural product biosynthetic pathways

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Published version of a preprint

Abstract

The GNAT (GCN5-related N-acetyltransferase) superfamily comprises enzymes with a conserved fold and diverse catalytic activities, including primarily acyl transfer, with a few examples of decarboxylation. EryM, a GNAT from Saccharopolyspora erythraea, has been implicated in both erythromycin and erythrochelin biosynthesis, with dual functionality as an acetyltransferase and a decarboxylase. Despite an historical association with malonyl-coenzyme A decarboxylation activity, this dual activity has remained enigmatic as its close homologs were identified with only acyl transfer activity. Here, functional assays demonstrate that EryM catalyzes acyl transfer but lacks decarboxylation activity, challenging long-standing assumptions about its biosynthetic role. Crystal structures of EryM and an acetyl-CoA complex and comparison with homologs in siderophore pathways reveal a conserved catalytic pocket with an essential His and identically positioned side chains common to GNAT enzymes for N-acyl transfer from CoA to primary hydroxylamine substrates. Bioinformatic analysis defines a large GNAT subfamily broadly distributed in the microbial world.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.str.2025.05.011

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. New ClusteredNR database: faster searches and more informative BLAST results - NCBI Insights https://ncbiinsights.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2022/05/02/clusterednr_1/.

Metadata

Authors
Li, Y., Liu, X., Harris, N. R., Roberts, J. R., Valdivia, E. M., Ji, X., & Smith, J. L.
Affiliations
University of Michigan (US)
Corresponding author
Smith, Janet L.
Venue
Structure
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2025-08
Volume
33
Issue
8
Pages
1352-1361.e3
ISSN
0969-2126 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4411257025
Cited by
0
References
56
FWCI
0.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Structure (acceptedVersion)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute (ACB-12002)
  • National Institutes of Health (R01 DK042303)
  • Life Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles (P30 GM138396)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology › Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Structural Biology › Enzyme Structure and Function
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biotechnology › Microbial Metabolism and Applications
Keywords
GNAT superfamily, N-acetyltransferase, acyl transfer, decarboxylation, erythromycin biosynthesis, Saccharopolyspora erythraea, acetyl-CoA, crystal structure, catalytic pocket, siderophore biosynthesis, natural product biosynthesis

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Redefining the role of the EryM acetyltransferase in natural product biosynthetic pathways. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1016/j.str.2025.05.011
The paper
Li, Y., Liu, X., Harris, N. R., Roberts, J. R., Valdivia, E. M., Ji, X., & Smith, J. L. (2025). Redefining the role of the EryM acetyltransferase in natural product biosynthetic pathways. Structure. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.str.2025.05.011

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.