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Enediyne natural products are renowned for their potent cytotoxicities but the biosynthesis of their defining 1,5-diyne-3-ene core moiety remains largely enigmatic. Since the discovery of the enediyne polyketide synthase cassette in 2002, genome sequencing has revealed thousands of distinct enediyne biosynthetic gene clusters, each harboring the conserved enediyne polyketide synthase cassette. Here we report that (1) the products of this cassette are an iodoheptaene, a diiodotetrayne and two pentaynes; (2) the diiodotetrayne represents a common biosynthetic intermediate for all known enediynes; and (3) cryptic iodination can be exploited to increase enediyne titers. These findings establish a unified biosynthetic pathway for the enediynes, set the stage to further advance enediyne core biosynthesis and enable fundamental breakthroughs in chemistry, enzymology and translational applications of enediyne natural products.

Terpenes constitute the largest class of natural products. Their skeletons are formed by terpene cyclases (TCs) from acyclic oligoprenyl diphosphates through sophisticated enzymatic conversions. These enzyme reactions start with substrate ionization through diphosphate abstraction, followed by a cascade reaction via cationic intermediates. Based on isotopic-labelling experiments in combination with a computational study, the cyclization mechanism for sodorifen, a highly methylated sesquiterpene from the soil bacterium Serratia plymuthica, was resolved. A peculiar problem in its biosynthesis lies in the formation of several methyl groups from chain methylene carbons. The underlying mechanism involves a methyltransferase-mediated cyclization and unprecedented ring contraction with carbon extrusion from the chain to form a methyl group. A terpene cyclase subsequently catalyses a fragmentation into two reactive intermediates, followed by hydrogen transfers between them and recombination of the fragments by [4 + 3] cycloaddition. This study solves the intricate mechanistic problem of extra methyl group formation in sodorifen biosynthesis.

All known triterpenes are generated by triterpene synthases (TrTSs) from squalene or oxidosqualene1. This approach is fundamentally different from the biosynthesis of short-chain (C10–C25) terpenes that are formed from polyisoprenyl diphosphates2–4. In this study, two fungal chimeric class I TrTSs, Talaromyces verruculosustalaropentaene synthase (TvTS) and Macrophomina phaseolinamacrophomene synthase (MpMS), were characterized. Both enzymes use dimethylallyl diphosphate and isopentenyl diphosphate or hexaprenyl diphosphate as substrates, representing the first examples, to our knowledge, of non-squalene-dependent triterpene biosynthesis. The cyclization mechanisms of TvTS and MpMS and the absolute configurations of their products were investigated in isotopic labelling experiments. Structural analyses of the terpene cyclase domain of TvTS and full-length MpMS provide detailed insights into their catalytic mechanisms. An AlphaFold2-based screening platform was developed to mine a third TrTS, Colletotrichum gloeosporioidescolleterpenol synthase (CgCS). Our findings identify a new enzymatic mechanism for the biosynthesis of triterpenes and enhance understanding of terpene biosynthesis in nature.