Research article 2026

Lipid-donor-anchored genome mining uncovers dioxanopeptins, antibacterial lipopeptides with a 1,3-dioxane functionalized polyunsaturated lipid tail

Ying Chen^†, Yunsheng Chen^†, Hao Xiang^†, Changqi Luo, Jiaqi Duan, Kun Hu, Xiaohong Zheng, Jing Liu, Yongbo Xue, Yi-Ming Shi

Chem. Sci. 2026, 17, 8229–8241.

† These authors contributed equally.

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Graphical abstract showing lipid-donor-anchored genome mining, a dioxanopeptin structure and membrane activity — Graphical abstract. Chen et al., Chemical Science (2026). CC BY 3.0. Unmodified.

Overview

A genome-mining strategy centered on polyunsaturated fatty acid synthases, followed by NRPS co-localization, identified the dxp biosynthetic gene-cluster family. The work connects this family to dioxanopeptins, antibacterial lipopeptides with a pyruvyl-derived 1,3-dioxane motif.

Hao Xiang performed biosynthetic gene-cluster analysis. The accompanying public repository provides the genome-mining workflow.

DOI 10.1039/d6sc00003g