The conspicuous bright golden to orange-reddish coloration of species of the basidiomycete genus Laetiporus is a hallmark feature of their fruiting bodies, known among mushroom hunters as the “chicken of the woods”. This report describes the identification of an eight-domain mono-modular highly reducing polyketide synthase as sole enzyme necessary for laetiporic acid biosynthesis. Heterologous pathway reconstitution in both Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus niger verified that LpaA functions as a multi-chain length polyene synthase, which produces a cocktail of laetiporic acids with a methyl-branched C₂₆–C₃₂ main chain. Laetiporic acids show a marked antifungal activity on Aspergillus protoplasts. Given the multiple products of a single biosynthesis enzyme, our work underscores the diversity-oriented character of basidiomycete natural product biosynthesis.

担子菌属（Laetiporus）的种显着的明亮的金黄色至橙红色的颜色是其子实体的标志性特征，在蘑菇猎人中被称为“树林中的鸡”。该报告描述了八域单模高还原性聚酮化合物合酶的鉴定，该酶是Laetiporic酸生物合成所必需的唯一酶。在构巢曲霉和黑曲霉中的异源途径重构证实，LpaA发挥多链长度多烯合酶的作用，该酶产生带有甲基支链的C ₂₆ –C ₃₂主链的Laetiporic酸的混合物。Laetiporic酸对曲霉菌具有明显的抗真菌活性原生质体。鉴于单一生物合成酶的多种产物，我们的工作强调了担子菌天然产物生物合成的多样性导向特征。