Biosynthesis of Polyketides in Streptomyces

Polyketides are large group of secondary metabolites that have notable variety in their structure and function. Polyketides exhibit a wide range of bioactivities such as antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, antiviral, immune-suppressing, anti-cholesterol and anti-inflammatory activity. Naturally, they are found in bacteria, fungi, plants, protists, insects, mollusks and sponges. Streptomyces is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria that has a filamentous form like fungi. This genus is best known as one of polyketides producers. Some examples of polyketides produced by Streptomyces are rapamycin, oleandomycin, actinorhodin, daunorubicin and caprazamycin. Biosynthesis of polyketides involves a group of enzyme activities called polyketide synthases (PKSs). There are three types of PKSs (type I, type II, and type III) in Streptomyces that responsible for producing polyketides. This paper focuses on biosynthesis of polyketides in Streptomyces with three structurally different types of PKSs.