Turning the world’s DNA into new medicines

The biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) for penicillin was the first BGC to be discovered, over 30 years ago. It revealed the evolutionary principle of clustering microbial genes involved in secondary metabolite/natural product synthesis. Conservative estimates suggest the existence of over a million BGCs in the fungal kingdom alone. The immense therapeutic potential of this evolutionarily refined wellspring of potent, cell-permeant small molecules urges investment into its characterization. However, the sheer number of BGCs combined with their cryptic expression patterns present two rate-limiting challenges.