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Polyketide synthase (PKS) and nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) hybrid systems typically use complex protein-protein interactions to facilitate direct transfer of intermediates between these multimodular megaenzymes. In the canal-associated neurons (CANs) ofCaenorhabditis elegans, PKS-1 and NRPS-1 produce the nemamides, the only known hybrid polyketide-nonribosomal peptides biosynthesized by animals, through a poorly understood mechanism. Here, we use genome editing and mass spectrometry to map the roles of individual PKS-1 and NRPS-1 enzymatic domains in nemamide biosynthesis. Furthermore, we show that nemamide biosynthesis requires at least five additional enzymes expressed in the CANs that are encoded by genes distributed across the worm genome. We identifymore »the roles of these enzymes and discover a mechanism for trafficking intermediates between a PKS and an NRPS. Specifically, the enzyme PKAL-1 activates an advanced polyketide intermediate as an adenylate and directly loads it onto a carrier protein in NRPS-1. This trafficking mechanism provides a means by which a PKS-NRPS system can expand its biosynthetic potential and is likely important for the regulation of nemamide biosynthesis.

This report is on the observation and theory of electric fieldEinduced non-linear magnetoelectric (NLME) effects in single crystal platelets of ferrimagnetic M-type strontium aluminum hexagonal ferrite. Using microwave measurement techniques, it was found that a DC electric field along the hexagonal c-axis results in significant changes in the saturation magnetization and uniaxial magneto-crystalline anisotropy field and these changes are proportional to the square of the applied static electric field. The NLME effects were present with or without an external bias magnetic field. TheE-induced variation in magnetic order parameters is attributed to weakening of magnetic exchange and spin–orbit interactions sincemore »conduction electrons in the ferrite are effectively excluded from both interactions while being in transit from one Fe ion to another. We present a phenomenological theory which considers magneto-bielectric effects characterized by a quadratic term in electric fieldEin the free energy density. The coefficients for the NLME coupling terms have been calculated from experimental data and they do show variations with the Al substitution level and the largest rates of change of the saturation magnetization and anisotropy constant change with the applied power were observed for x = 0.4. It was also clear from the study that strength of the NLME effect does not depend on the amount Al substitution, but critically depends on the electrical conductivity of the sample with the highest NLME coefficients estimated for the sample with the highest conductivity. Results of this work are of importance for a new family of electric field tunable, miniature, high frequency ferrite devices.