A biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) is a contiguous, functionally coordinated genomic locus that encodes the enzymatic and regulatory machinery required for the biosynthesis of a specialized natural product or a defined family of structurally related metabolites. In microbial genomes, a BGC commonly includes one or more core biosynthetic genes encoding scaffold-forming enzymes, together with genes for tailoring enzymes that modify the molecular scaffold, transport proteins, pathway-specific regulators, precursor-supply functions, and, where relevant, self-resistance or immunity mechanisms [1][2]. The coordinated expression and activity of these genes direct the conversion of primary metabolites into a characteristic natural-product scaffold and its subsequent chemical diversification. BGCs are recognized as genomic units through the physical co-localization of genes whose protein products collectively constitute a biosynthetic pathway; their boundaries encompass the genes contributing directly to metabolite assembly, modification, regulation, export, or producer protection [1][3].
- specialized metabolism
- natural products
- microbial genomics
- biosynthetic enzymes
🔵 Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis • 🟣 Pharmacology • 🟡 Medicine • 🔴 Health Sciences
References
- Marnix H Medema; Renzo Kottmann; Pelin Yilmaz; Matthew Cummings; John B Biggins; Kai Blin; Irene de Bruijn; Yit Heng Chooi; Jan Claesen; R Cameron Coates; et al. Minimum Information about a Biosynthetic Gene cluster. Nat. Chem. Biol. 2015, 11, 625-631, 10.1038/nchembio.1890.
- Peter Cimermancic; Marnix H. Medema; Jan Claesen; Kenji Kurita; Laura C. Wieland Brown; Konstantinos Mavrommatis; Amrita Pati; Paul A. Godfrey; Michael Koehrsen; Jon Clardy; et al. Insights into Secondary Metabolism from a Global Analysis of Prokaryotic Biosynthetic Gene Clusters. Cell 2014, 158, 412-421, 10.1016/j.cell.2014.06.034.
- Barbara R Terlouw; Kai Blin; Jorge C Navarro-Muñoz; Nicole E Avalon; Marc G Chevrette; Susan Egbert; Sanghoon Lee; David Meijer; Michael J J Recchia; Zachary L Reitz; et al. MIBiG 3.0: A Community-Driven Effort to Annotate Experimentally Validated Biosynthetic Gene Clusters. Nucleic Acids Res. 2022, 51, D603-D610, 10.1093/nar/gkac1049.