EXPLORING THE BIOSYNTHETIC ORIGIN OF FLUOROACETATE AND 4-FLUOROTHREONINE IN STREPTOMYCES-CATTLEYA

The biosynthesis of the fluorometabolites, fluoroacetate and 4-fluorot hreonine, has been investigated in cell suspensions of Streptomyces ca ttleya using both carbon-13 and deuterium labelled precursors, The ext ent of incorporation of label into each metabolite and the distributio n of label within each metabolite has been determined by GC-MS and F-1 9{H-1} NMR spectral analyses, Efficient metabolism of glycine, serine and pyruvate into the fluorometabolites is observed, the results being consistent with metabolism via oxaloacetate to an intermediate in the glycolytic pathway between phosphoenolpyruvate and dihydroxyacetone p hosphate, from which the substrate for fluorination is derived. The st riking similarity between the labelling patterns within the two fluoro metabolites recorded in every experiment demonstrates that there is a single fluorination enzyme in S. cattleya.