1139803-15-8Relevant articles and documents
Investigating the initial steps in the biosynthesis of cyanobacterial sunscreen scytonemin
Balskus, Emily P.,Walsh, Christopher T.
supporting information; experimental part, p. 15260 - 15261 (2009/03/11)
The cyanobacterial natural product scytonemin (1) functions as a sunscreen, absorbing harmful UV-A radiation. Using information from a recently identified gene cluster, we propose a biosynthetic route to this pigment. We also report the characterization of two enzymes, NpR1275 and NpR1276, which are involved in the initial stages of this pathway. A regioselective acyloin reaction between indole-3-pyruvic acid (4) and p-hydroxyphenylpyruvic acid (5) is a key step in assembling the carbon framework of a proposed monomeric scytonemin precursor (2). Copyright
