VioE, a prodeoxyviolacein synthase involved in violacein biosynthesis, is responsible for intramolecular indole rearrangement

Indole-3-pyruvic acid is transformed to prodeoxyviolacein by the novel enzyme VioE, which is involved in the violacein biosynthetic pathway in Chromobacterium violaceum ATCC12472. VioE catalyzes the decarboxylation and indole-ring rearrangement of a nascent compound that is produced from indole-3-pyruvic acid and NH4+ by the action of chromopyrrolic acid synthase (VioB or StaD), and ultimately the reaction yields prodeoxyviolacein. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.