Investigation of the Discoipyrroles and Other Marine Bacteria Derived Natural Products

Natural products are a rich source of scientific innovation. These chemical compounds are canonically celebrated as biomedical tools or synthetic chemistry feats. Discovery of new chemical compounds has benefited from the study of natural product biosynthesis, or the methods by which they are constructed. Additionally, these studies have advanced the fields of ecology, industrial chemistry, and protein biophysics. This work will demonstrate how the discoipyrrole family of natural products inspired novel biomedical and biosynthetic discovery. In particular, their biosynthesis features unique mechanisms that are independent of protein catalysts, a growing trend found in natural products. Unrelated to the discoipyrroles, the manipulation of biosynthesis pathways using the methodology known as ribosome engineering will be discussed. This work demonstrates how the discovery and development of bioactive natural products can be enhanced by biosynthetic interrogations.