physiological function
final enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway for staphyloxanthin, a C30 carotenoid biosynthesized by Staphylococcus aureus. Deletion of the gene abolishes staphyloxanthin biosynthesis and causes accumulation of 4,4'-diaponeurosporen-4-al. When the complete staphyloxanthin biosynthetic pathway is expressed using an artificial synthetic operon in Escherichia coli, staphyloxanthin-like compounds, which contain altered fatty acid acyl chains, and novel carotenoid compounds aere produced, indicating functional expression and coordination of the six staphyloxanthin pathway enzymes
