Prof. Craig Townsend, Johns Hopkins University

Recent Studies in Polyketide Natural Product Biosynthesis and Engineering

School Colloquium

If you were to ask an organic chemist “What is the most useful functional group for synthesis?” he or she is likely to answer “the carbonyl.” Only a handful of biosynthetic pathways are known, but they create the vast panoply of natural products.  The synthetic versatility of the carbonyl group is evident in several of these, but one in particular—the polyketide family. How the intrinsic reactivity of this functional group is used and controlled by the giant enzymes that synthesize them will be considered, and recent discoveries about how they can be re-engineered to make new products will be illustrated.

For more information contact Prof. Wendy Kelly (404-385-1154).