Biosynthesis of Arcyriaflavin F from Streptomyces venezuelae ATCC 10712

Indolocarbazoles are natural products with a broad spectrum of reported bioactivities. A distinct feature of indolocarbazole biosynthesis is the modification of the indole and maleimide rings by regioselective tailoring enzymes. Here, we study a new indolocarbazole variant, which is encoded by the acfXODCP genes from Streptomyces venezuelae ATCC 10712. First, we characterise this pathway by expressing the acfXODCP genes in Streptomyces coelicolor , which led to the production of a C-5/C-5’-dihydroxylated indolocarbazole. We name this new product arcyriaflavin F. Second, we demonstrate the flavin-dependent monooxygenase AcfX catalyses the C-5/C-5’ dihydroxylation of the unsubstituted arcyriaflavin A into arcyriaflavin F. Interestingly, AcfX shares homology to EspX from erdasporine A biosynthesis, which instead catalyses a single C-6 indolocarbazole hydroxylation. In summary, we report a new indolocarbazole biosynthetic pathway and a regioselective C-5 indole ring tailoring enzyme AcfX.