Isolation and Characterization of Pre-rapamycin, the First Macrocyclic Intermediate in the Biosynthesis of the Immunosuppressant Rapamycin byS. hygroscopicus

It's a rap: A double recombination strategy has been utilized to uncover the biosynthetic route to the key intermediate in the formation of rapamycin. Removal of a section of the rapamycin gene cluster from Streptomyces hygroscopicus produced a strain that generated no rapamycin. Gene complementation proved, surprisingly, that the accumulation of this previously elusive intermediate pre-rapamycin (1) depended on the presence of the gene rapK. Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW under http://www.wiley-vch.de/contents/jc_2002/2004/z53764_s.pdf or from the author. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.