Abstract
Polyketide synthases (PKSs) use simple extender units to synthesize complex natural products. A fundamental question is how different extender units are site-specifically incorporated into the growing polyketide. Here we established phoslactomycin (Pn) PKS, which incorporates malonyl- and ethylmalonyl-CoA, as an in vitro model to study substrate specificity. We combined up to six Pn PKS modules with different termination sites for the controlled release of tetra-, penta- and hexaketides, and challenged these systems with up to seven different extender units in competitive assays to test for the specificity of Pn modules. While malonyl-CoA modules of Pn PKS exclusively accept their natural substrate, the ethylmalonyl-CoA module PnC tolerates different α-substituted derivatives, but discriminates against malonyl-CoA. We show that the ratio of extender transacylation to hydrolysis controls incorporation in PnC, thus explaining site-specific selectivity and promiscuity in the natural context of Pn PKS.