The term ‘polyketide’ was coined in 1907 and
refers to the secondary metabolites from bacteria, fungi, plants and animals.
Polyketides are secondary metabolites with polyketomethylene groups containing
multiple ketone groups and are synthezised by serialized reactions of a set of enzymes called
polyketides synthase
which coordinate the elongation of carbon skeletons by the stepwise
condensation of short carbon precursors.
Traditionally, polyketides were indirectly
known by their biological activities e.g., the purgative materials in cascara,
rhubarb, and senna are usually polyketide-derived anthracenes.
Traditional antispasmodics, long used in the
Middle East to treat angina, contain significant amounts of the polyketide
khellin and another very famous example of polyketides in history was the use
of coniine containing hemlock to execute Socrates (BCE 399).
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