In contrast to the prevalence of N-N linkages in synthetic drug libraries, the enzymes for N-N bond formation have only started to be revealed recently 13, 14.
The N-hydroxytriazene moiety, containing three consecutive nitrogen atoms, is rare in nature and has only been identified in the triacsin family of natural products 12.
Tri28 and Tri17 (highlighted in green) are the two ATP-utilizing enzymes which catalyze formation of the two different N-N bonds found in triacsins. b) The proposed biosynthetic pathway of triacsins based on this work.
