Aromatic polyketides have attractive biological activities and pharmacological properties. Different from other polyketides, aromatic polyketides are characterized by their polycyclic aromatic structure. The biosynthesis of aromatic polyketides is usually accomplished by the type II polyketide synthases (PKSs), which produce highly diverse polyketide chains by sequential condensation of the starter units with extender units, followed by reduction, cyclization, aromatization and tailoring reactions. Recently, significant progress has been made in characterization and engineering of type II PKSs to produce novel products and improve product titers. In this review, we briefly summarize the architectural organizations and genetic contributions of PKS genes to provide insight into the biosynthetic process. We then review the most recent progress in engineered biosynthesis of aromatic polyketides, with emphasis on generating novel molecular structures. We also discuss the current challenges and future perspectives in the rational engineering of type II PKSs for large scale production of aromatic polyketides.

中文翻译：

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使用II型聚酮化合物合酶在微生物中生物合成芳族聚酮化合物。

芳香族聚酮化合物具有吸引人的生物学活性和药理特性。与其他聚酮化合物不同，芳族聚酮化合物的特征在于其多环芳族结构。芳香族聚酮化合物的生物合成通常是通过II型聚酮化合物合酶（PKS）完成的，该酶通过将起始剂单元与增量剂单元依次缩合，然后进行还原，环化，芳构化和定制反应来生产高度多样化的聚酮化合物链。近来，在II型PKS的表征和工程设计方面已经取得了重大进展，以生产新颖的产品并提高产品效价。在这篇综述中，我们简要总结了PKS基因的结构组织和遗传贡献，以深入了解生物合成过程。然后，我们回顾了芳香族聚酮化合物工程生物合成的最新进展，重点是生成新型分子结构。我们还讨论了用于大规模生产芳族聚酮化合物的II型PKS的合理工程设计中的当前挑战和未来前景。