{"doi":"10.1002/bies.201500067","title":"The versatile low‐molecular‐weight thiols: Beyond cell protection","abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:label /><jats:p>Low‐molecular‐weight (LMW) thiols are extensively involved in the maintenance of cellular redox potentials and the protection of cells from a variety of reactive chemical and electrophilic species. However, we recently found that the metabolic coupling of two LMW thiols – mycothiol (MSH) and ergothioneine (EGT) – programs the biosynthesis of the anti‐infective agent lincomycin A. Remarkably, such a constructive role of the thiols in the biosynthesis of natural products has so far received relatively little attention. We speculate that the unusual thiol EGT might function as a chiral thiolation carrier (for modification) and a novel activator (for glycosylation) of sugar. Additionally, we examine recent evidence for LMW thiols (MSH and others) as sulfur donors of sulfur‐containing natural products. Clearly, the LMW thiols have more diverse activities beyond cell protection, and more attention should be paid to the correlation of their functions with thiol‐dependent enzymes.</jats:p></jats:sec>","journal":"BioEssays","year":2015,"id":659415,"datarank":0.4943755299006494,"base_score":3.295836866004329,"endowment":3.295836866004329,"self_citation_contribution":0.4943755299006494,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.4943755299006494,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":26,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1721349,"name":"Qunfei Zhao","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1297017,"name":"Wen Liu","orcid":"0009-0001-5828-1672","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":735303,"name":"Min Wang","orcid":"0009-0000-0671-1055","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"The versatile low‐molecular‐weight thiols: Beyond cell protection","abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:label /><jats:p>Low‐molecular‐weight (LMW) thiols are extensively involved in the maintenance of cellular redox potentials and the protection of cells from a variety of reactive chemical and electrophilic species. However, we recently found that the metabolic coupling of two LMW thiols – mycothiol (MSH) and ergothioneine (EGT) – programs the biosynthesis of the anti‐infective agent lincomycin A. Remarkably, such a constructive role of the thiols in the biosynthesis of natural products has so far received relatively little attention. We speculate that the unusual thiol EGT might function as a chiral thiolation carrier (for modification) and a novel activator (for glycosylation) of sugar. Additionally, we examine recent evidence for LMW thiols (MSH and others) as sulfur donors of sulfur‐containing natural products. Clearly, the LMW thiols have more diverse activities beyond cell protection, and more attention should be paid to the correlation of their functions with thiol‐dependent enzymes.</jats:p></jats:sec>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":3.295836866004329,"endowment":3.295836866004329,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"26515639","pmcid":null,"openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W1876170088","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","grant_id":"81302674","title":null},{"funder_name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","grant_id":"31430005","title":null},{"funder_name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","grant_id":"91413101","title":null},{"funder_name":"Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality","grant_id":"14JC1407700","title":null},{"funder_name":"Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality","grant_id":"13XD140450","title":null},{"funder_name":"Foundation for Promotion of Material Science and Technology of Japan","grant_id":"2012AA02A706","title":null}],"total_grants":6,"fwci":2.7432,"citation_percentile":0.88729503,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2016,"count":2},{"year":2017,"count":5},{"year":2018,"count":3},{"year":2019,"count":3},{"year":2020,"count":2},{"year":2021,"count":2},{"year":2022,"count":2},{"year":2023,"count":5},{"year":2024,"count":2}],"oa_status":"closed","license":"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fbies.201500067","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/bies.201500067","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201500067","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26515639","host_type":"repository"}],"fields_of_study":["Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis","Fungal Biology and Applications","Enzyme function and inhibition"],"mesh_terms":["Biological Products","Carbohydrates","Cysteine","Ergothioneine","Glycopeptides","Glycosylation","Inositol","Molecular Weight","Oxidation-Reduction","Sulfhydryl Compounds"],"keywords":["Chemistry","Computational biology","Biology","Ergothioneine","Mycothiol","Low-molecular-weight Thiols","Non-leloir Pathway","Sulfur Incorporation","Thiolation Carrier"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-12T06:51:19.832040Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}