Creating Isoprenoid Diversity

Abstract

Living things use isoprenoids as pigments, hormones, molecular signals, and pheromones. The many variations of isoprenoid are generated by versatile enzymes that synthesize multiple products. In their Perspective, Sacchettini and Poulter discuss what the new structures of three of these cyclases, reported on pages 1811, 1815, and 1820 of this issue, reveal about the mechanisms of isoprenoid formation.