Unlocking hidden enzymatic chemistry in natural product biosynthesis

Abstract

Covering up to 2026

For decades, natural product biosynthetic enzymes have challenged conventional logic and expanded the repertoire of biological catalysis. Understanding these enzymes that catalyze such diverse and powerful reactions is critical for understanding biological pathways, leveraging biomimetic or biocatalytic chemistry, and discovering novel natural products. Uncovering these enzymes is a challenging and historied pursuit, where the landscape has shifted greatly with advances in bioinformatics and unprecedented access to large datasets. These new omics technologies have unlocked new strategies, complementing older strategies, for the prioritization of candidate enzymes for characterization. This Highlight examines several established and emerging strategies for uncovering novel enzymatic chemistry in the context of natural product biosynthesis, focusing on representative examples that define current capabilities and outline key challenges.