Biosynthetic 4,6-dehydratase gene deletion: isolation of a glucosylated jadomycin natural product provides insight into the substrate specificity of glycosyltransferase JadS

Deletion of the biosynthetic 4,6-dehydratase gene, jadT, present in the angucycline jadomycin dideoxysugar biosynthetic pathway, led to the isolation of a novel C12 glucosylated jadomycin. JadS was identified as the catalyst responsible for glucosylation due to a loss of production of the glucosylated natural product in a ΔjadSΔjadT deletion strain. This study demonstrates that a 2,6-dideoxy-l-sugar glycosyltransferase is able to transfer d-glucose, exemplifying remarkable substrate tolerance.