Feeding experiments with stable isotopes established that the potent 20S-proteasome inhibitors salinosporamide A and B are biosynthesizedin the marine bacterium
Salinispora tropica from three biosynthetic building blocks, namely, acetate,
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-hydroxy-2'-cyclohexenylalanine, andeither butyrate or a tetrose-derived chlorinated molecule. The unexpected observation that the chlorinated four-carbon residue in salinosporamideA is derived from a different metabolic origin than the non-chlorinated four-carbon unit in salinosporamide B is suggestive of a convergentbiosynthesis to these two anticancer natural products.