Radicicol, also known as monorden, is a natural product that binds to

Hsp90 Hsp90 (heat shock protein 90) is a chaperone (protein), chaperone protein that assists other proteins to protein folding, fold properly, stabilizes proteins against heat stress, and aids in protein degradation. It also stabilizes a number of ...

(Heat Shock Protein 90) and alters its function. HSP90 client proteins play important roles in the regulation of the cell cycle, cell growth, cell survival,

apoptosis Apoptosis (from ) is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms and in some eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms such as yeast. Biochemistry, Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes (Morphology (biol ...

angiogenesis Angiogenesis is the physiological process through which new blood vessels form from pre-existing vessels, formed in the earlier stage of vasculogenesis. Angiogenesis continues the growth of the vasculature mainly by processes of sprouting and ...

and

oncogenesis Carcinogenesis, also called oncogenesis or tumorigenesis, is the formation of a cancer, whereby normal cells are transformed into cancer cells. The process is characterized by changes at the cellular, genetic, and epigenetic levels and abno ...

Biosynthesis

Biosynthesis of radicicol has been best studied in ''

Pochonia chlamydosporia ''Pochonia'' is a genus of fungi within the order Hypocreales and is described as anamorphic Metacordyceps; eight species are described. Previously placed in the genus ''Verticillium'', these fungi are known to be pathogenic to nematodes and are ...

'', in which the majority of the core structure is produced in vivo through iterative type I

polyketide synthases In organic chemistry, polyketides are a class of natural products derived from a Precursor (chemistry), precursor molecule consisting of a Polymer backbone, chain of alternating ketone (, or Carbonyl reduction, its reduced forms) and Methylene gro ...

. This structure produced is the earliest intermediate in the radicicol biosynthesis, monocillin II. This intermediate is transformed to radicicol through halogenation and epoxide formation performed by RadH and RadP respectively. These enzymes are coded by the genes Rdc2 and Rdc4 in the pathway, and removing either of these results in a product that has the monocillin II core, but does not have either the epoxide or halogen added. Proposed Radicicol Biosynthetic Pathway

Biosynthesis

See also

References

Further reading