Recent advances in the direct cloning of large natural product biosynthetic gene clusters

Large-scale genome-mining analyses have revealed that microbes potentially harbor a huge reservoir of uncharacterized natural product (NP) biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), and this has spurred a renaissance of novel drug discovery. However, the majority of these BGCs are often poorly or not at all...

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Main Authors: Jiaying Wan, Nan Ma, Hua Yuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2023-09-01
Series:Engineering Microbiology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667370323000176
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author Jiaying Wan
Nan Ma
Hua Yuan
author_facet Jiaying Wan
Nan Ma
Hua Yuan
author_sort Jiaying Wan
collection DOAJ
description Large-scale genome-mining analyses have revealed that microbes potentially harbor a huge reservoir of uncharacterized natural product (NP) biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), and this has spurred a renaissance of novel drug discovery. However, the majority of these BGCs are often poorly or not at all expressed in their native hosts under laboratory conditions, and thus are regarded as silent/orphan BGCs. Currently, connecting silent BGCs to their corresponding NPs quickly and on a large scale is particularly challenging because of the lack of universal strategies and enabling technologies. Generally, the heterologous host-based genome mining strategy is believed to be a suitable alternative to the native host-based approach for prioritization of the vast and ever-increasing number of uncharacterized BGCs. In the last ten years, a variety of methods have been reported for the direct cloning of BGCs of interest, which is the first and rate-limiting step in the heterologous expression strategy. Essentially, each method requires that the following three issues be resolved: 1) how to prepare genomic DNA; 2) how to digest the bilateral boundaries for release of the target BGC; and 3) how to assemble the BGC and the capture vector. Here, we summarize recent reports regarding how to directly capture a BGC of interest and briefly discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each method, with an emphasis on the notion that direct cloning is very beneficial for accelerating genome mining research and large-scale drug discovery.
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spelling doaj.art-407c95fb24fb4f539de96a9f2be0db642023-09-29T04:45:30ZengElsevierEngineering Microbiology2667-37032023-09-0133100085Recent advances in the direct cloning of large natural product biosynthetic gene clustersJiaying Wan0Nan Ma1Hua Yuan2College of Life Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, ChinaCollege of Life Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, ChinaCorresponding author.; College of Life Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, ChinaLarge-scale genome-mining analyses have revealed that microbes potentially harbor a huge reservoir of uncharacterized natural product (NP) biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), and this has spurred a renaissance of novel drug discovery. However, the majority of these BGCs are often poorly or not at all expressed in their native hosts under laboratory conditions, and thus are regarded as silent/orphan BGCs. Currently, connecting silent BGCs to their corresponding NPs quickly and on a large scale is particularly challenging because of the lack of universal strategies and enabling technologies. Generally, the heterologous host-based genome mining strategy is believed to be a suitable alternative to the native host-based approach for prioritization of the vast and ever-increasing number of uncharacterized BGCs. In the last ten years, a variety of methods have been reported for the direct cloning of BGCs of interest, which is the first and rate-limiting step in the heterologous expression strategy. Essentially, each method requires that the following three issues be resolved: 1) how to prepare genomic DNA; 2) how to digest the bilateral boundaries for release of the target BGC; and 3) how to assemble the BGC and the capture vector. Here, we summarize recent reports regarding how to directly capture a BGC of interest and briefly discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each method, with an emphasis on the notion that direct cloning is very beneficial for accelerating genome mining research and large-scale drug discovery.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667370323000176Natural productSilent BGCsGenome miningDirect cloningHeterologous expression
spellingShingle Jiaying Wan
Nan Ma
Hua Yuan
Recent advances in the direct cloning of large natural product biosynthetic gene clusters
Engineering Microbiology
Natural product
Silent BGCs
Genome mining
Direct cloning
Heterologous expression
title Recent advances in the direct cloning of large natural product biosynthetic gene clusters
title_full Recent advances in the direct cloning of large natural product biosynthetic gene clusters
title_fullStr Recent advances in the direct cloning of large natural product biosynthetic gene clusters
title_full_unstemmed Recent advances in the direct cloning of large natural product biosynthetic gene clusters
title_short Recent advances in the direct cloning of large natural product biosynthetic gene clusters
title_sort recent advances in the direct cloning of large natural product biosynthetic gene clusters
topic Natural product
Silent BGCs
Genome mining
Direct cloning
Heterologous expression
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667370323000176
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