Tirandamycin biosynthesis is mediated by co-dependent oxidative enzymes

Elucidation of natural product biosynthetic pathways provides important insights about the assembly of potent bioactive molecules, and expands access to unique enzymes able to selectively modify complex substrates. Here we show full reconstitution in vitro of an unusual multi-step oxidative cascade for post-assembly line tailoring of tirandamycin antibiotics. This pathway involves a remarkably versatile and iterative cytochrome P450 monooxygenase (TamI) and an FAD-dependent oxidase (TamL), which act co-dependently through repeated exchange of substrates. TamI hydroxylates tirandamycin C (TirC) to generate tirandamycin E (TirE), a heretofore unidentified tirandamycin intermediate. TirE is subsequently oxidized by TamL, giving rise to the ketone of tirandamycin D (TirD), after which a unique exchange back to TamI enables successive epoxidation and hydroxylation to afford, respectively, the final products tirandamycin A (TirA) and tirandamycin B (TirB). Ligand-free, substrate- and product-bound crystal structures of bicovalently flavinylated TamL oxidase reveal a likely mechanism for the C-10 oxidation of TirE.