Natural products articles within Nature

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chimeric triterpene synthases are identified that catalyse non-squalene-dependent triterpene biosynthesis.

    • Hui Tao
    • , Lukas Lauterbach
    •  & Tiangang Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The bacterial genotoxin colibactin triggers prophage-mediated lysis of neighbouring bacteria, a finding that provides insight into the dynamics of microbial communities and relationships between bacterial metabolite production and phage behaviour.

    • Justin E. Silpe
    • , Joel W. H. Wong
    •  & Emily P. Balskus

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus appeared in European hedgehogs in the pre-antibiotic era as a co-evolutionary adaptation to antibiotic-producing dermatophytes and have spread within the local hedgehog populations and between hedgehogs and secondary hosts.

    • Jesper Larsen
    • , Claire L. Raisen
    •  & Anders R. Larsen

  • Article |

    The discovery and synthesis of a colistin congener provide a promising clinical lead against mcr-1-encoding colistin-resistant pathogens, which are responsible for an increasing number of deaths from antibiotic-resistant infections.

    • Zongqiang Wang
    • , Bimal Koirala
    •  & Sean F. Brady

  • Article |

    Analysis of two homologous groups of fungal pericyclases demonstrates how they can catalyse either an Alder-ene reaction—which has not previously been found in nature—or a hetero-Diels–Alder reaction.

    • Masao Ohashi
    • , Cooper S. Jamieson
    •  & Yi Tang

  • Outlook |

    The cannabis compound known as CBD is being touted as a treatment for a variety of conditions. But the substance’s uncertain legal status is stalling serious investigation.

    • Michael Eisenstein

  • Letter |

    Microbial generation of a terminal-alkyne-containing amino acid can be encoded into E. coli and provides the potential for in vivo generation of proteins and natural products for click chemistry.

    • J. A. Marchand
    • , M. E. Neugebauer
    •  & M. C. Y. Chang

  • Letter |

    Ring-closing metathesis is a widely used chemical transformation that can generate organic macrocycle compounds; here, an approach is described by which the E-stereoisomer of a macrocycle is generated selectively, exemplified by synthesizing the antibiotic recifeolide and the anti-cancer drug pacritinib.

    • Xiao Shen
    • , Thach T. Nguyen
    •  & Amir H. Hoveyda

  • Letter |

    The crystal structure of the MraY enzyme from Aquifex aeolicus in complex with the naturally occurring nucleoside inhibitor muraymycin D2 (MD2) reveals that MraY undergoes a large conformational rearrangement near the active site after the binding of MD2, leading to the generation of a nucleoside-binding pocket and a peptide-binding site.

    • Ben C. Chung
    • , Ellene H. Mashalidis
    •  & Seok-Yong Lee

  • Letter |

    WebX-ray crystal structures are presented of each major step of the assembly-line synthesis by the initiation module of the nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) LgrA; the structures reveal large conformational changes, demonstrating a requirement for NRPSs to be very dynamic.

    • Janice M. Reimer
    • , Martin N. Aloise
    •  & T. Martin Schmeing

  • Outlook |

    Cannabis is one of humanity's oldest cultivated crops. But despite its long history and many uses, hard facts on its evolution and impact on the human body are in short supply. By Julie Gould.

    • Julie Gould

  • Outlook |

    For thousands of years cannabis has been valued as a versatile herbal medicine. In the twentieth century, prescription gave way to proscription. Might this ancient remedy be about to regain its healing reputation? By Stephanie Pain

    • Stephanie Pain

  • Outlook |

    As restrictions around cannabis research ease, scientists are exploring how the plant could be medically useful. Here are four of the hardest questions they face.

    • Julie Gould

  • Outlook |

    Researchers are getting closer to answering the centuries-old question of how to label cannabis varieties — a necessary step to bring the plant into mainstream agriculture.

    • Lucas Laursen

  • Outlook |

    Pharmaceutical research into the chemicals found in cannabis has so far supplied only one licensed medicine. But scientists think there could be hundreds more.

    • Brian Owens

  • Article |

    From a new species of β-proteobacteria, an antibiotic called teixobactin that does not generate resistance has been characterized; the antibiotic has two different lipid targets in different bacterial cell wall synthesis components, which may explain why resistance was not observed.

    • Losee L. Ling
    • , Tanja Schneider
    •  & Kim Lewis

  • Article |

    Whereas previous structural investigation of ribosome inhibitors has been done using the prokaryotic ribosome, this work presents X-ray crystal structures of the yeast ribosome in complex with 16 inhibitors including eukaryotic-specific inhibitors; the inhibitors all bind the mRNA or tRNA binding sites, larger molecules appear to target specifically the first elongation cycle.

    • Nicolas Garreau de Loubresse
    • , Irina Prokhorova
    •  & Marat Yusupov

  • Article |

    The emergence of Gram-negative pathogens resistant to carbapenem antibiotics is a global health concern and carbapenem resistance often arises through acquisition of β-lactamase enzymes; this study identifies the natural fungal product aspergillomarasmine A as a metallo-β-lactamase inhibitor and a potential treatment to tackle carbapenem resistance.

    • Andrew M. King
    • , Sarah A. Reid-Yu
    •  & Gerard D. Wright

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single-cell- and metagenomics-based study reveals two members of the candidate genus ‘Entotheonella’, symbionts of the marine sponge Theonella swinhoei; distinct biosynthetic gene clusters that account for most of the bioactive polyketides and peptides known from T. swinhoei are shown to be attributable to a single member of the T. swinhoei Y microbiome.

    • Micheal C. Wilson
    • , Tetsushi Mori
    •  & Jörn Piel

  • Letter |

    Structural and functional studies reveal how the bacterial flavoenzyme EncM catalyses the oxygenation–dehydrogenation dual oxidation of a highly reactive substrate, and show that EncM maintains a stable flavin oxygenating species that promotes substrate oxidation and triggers a rarely seen Favorskii-type rearrangement.

    • Robin Teufel
    • , Akimasa Miyanaga
    •  & Bradley S. Moore

  • Letter |

    This study shows the structural and biochemical characterization of a new type of polyketide synthase module that catalyses the vinylogous addition of a malonyl unit to an unsaturated thioester, generating a branch in the growing polyketide chain; this characterization provides a mechanism by which the structural diversity of polyketide natural products can be increased.

    • Tom Bretschneider
    • , Joel B. Heim
    •  & Christian Hertweck

  • News & Views |

    Eyewitnesses are sometimes asked to identify a culprit from a line-up of people associated with a crime scene. An enzyme — iridoid synthase — that catalyses an unusual reaction has been identified by a similar approach. See Letter p.138

    • Joe Chappell

  • Letter |

    Iridoids are a large family of bicyclic natural products that possess anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antifungal and antibacterial activities; here the essential cyclization step in their biosynthesis is identified, opening up the possibility of production of naturally occurring and synthetic variants of iridoids for use in pharmacy or agriculture.

    • Fernando Geu-Flores
    • , Nathaniel H. Sherden
    •  & Sarah E. O’Connor

  • News & Views |

    A remarkable reaction that reverses the chemical behaviour of molecules known as 1,3-diketones allows a new strategy that could be used to prepare a range of potentially useful, naturally occurring compounds. See Letter p.86

    • Stefan Roesner
    •  & Varinder K. Aggarwal

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