MITE: the Minimum Information about a Tailoring Enzyme database for capturing specialized metabolite biosynthesis

Biosynthesis
Database
Natural Products
SMARTS
Authors
Affiliations

Adriano Rutz

ETH Zürich ROR logo

Daniel Probst

Wageningen University & Research ROR logo

César Aguilar

Tecnológico de Monterrey ROR logo

Daniel Y. Akiyama

Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) ROR logo

Fabrizio Alberti

University of Warwick ROR logo

Hannah E. Augustijn

Wageningen University & Research ROR logo

Leiden University ROR logo

Nicole E. Avalon

University of California, Irvine ROR logo

Scripps Institution of Oceanography ROR logo

Christine Beemelmanns

Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research ROR logo

Hellen Bertoletti Barbieri

Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) ROR logo

Friederike Biermann

Wageningen University & Research ROR logo

Goethe University Frankfurt ROR logo

LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics ROR logo

Alan J. Bridge

SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics ROR logo

Esteban Charria Girón

Wageningen University & Research ROR logo

Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research ROR logo

Russell Cox

Leibniz Universität Hannover ROR logo

Max Crüsemann

University of Bonn ROR logo

Goethe University Frankfurt ROR logo

Paul Michael D’Agostino

Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research ROR logo

Marc Feuermann

SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics ROR logo

Jennifer Gerke

Leibniz Universität Hannover ROR logo

Karina Gutiérrez García

Carnegie Institution for Science ROR logo

University of Arizona ROR logo

Jonathan Holme

SINTEF Industry ROR logo

Ji-Yeon Hwang

Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research ROR logo

Riccardo Iacovelli

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland ROR logo

Júlio César Jeronimo Barbosa

Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) ROR logo

Navneet Kaur

National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute ROR logo

Martin Klapper

Leibniz-Institut für Naturstoff-Forschung und Infektionsbiologie e. V. - Hans-Knöll-Institut (HKI) ROR logo

Anna M. Köhler

Leibniz Universität Hannover ROR logo

Aleksandra Korenskaia

University of Tübingen ROR logo

Noel Kubach

University of Tübingen ROR logo

Byung Tae Lee

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology ROR logo

Catarina Loureiro

Wageningen University & Research ROR logo

Shrikant Mantri

National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute ROR logo

Simran Narula

National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute ROR logo

David Meijer

Wageningen University & Research ROR logo

Jorge C. Navarro-Muñoz

Wageningen University & Research ROR logo

Giang-Son Nguyen

SINTEF Industry ROR logo

Sunaina Paliyal

National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute ROR logo

Mohit Panghal

National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute ROR logo

Latika Rao

National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute ROR logo

Simon Sieber

Department of Chemistry ROR logo

Nika Sokolova

University of Groningen ROR logo

Sven T. Sowa

University of Basel ROR logo

Judith Szenei

Technical University of Denmark ROR logo

Barbara Terlouw

Leiden University ROR logo

Heiner G. Weddeling

University of Basel ROR logo

Jingwei Yu

Southern University of Science and Technology ROR logo

Nadine Ziemert

University of Tübingen ROR logo

Tilmann Weber

Technical University of Denmark ROR logo

Kai Blin

Technical University of Denmark ROR logo

Justin J. J. van der Hooft

Wageningen University & Research ROR logo

University of Johannesburg ROR logo

Marnix H. Medema

Wageningen University & Research ROR logo

Mitja M. Zdouc

Wageningen University & Research ROR logo

Published

September 26, 2025

Doi
Abstract

Secondary or specialized metabolites show extraordinary structural diversity and potent biological activities relevant for clinical and industrial applications. The biosynthesis of these metabolites usually starts with the assembly of a core ‘scaffold’, which is subsequently modified by tailoring enzymes to define the molecule’s final structure and, in turn, its biological activity profile. Knowledge about reaction and substrate specificity of tailoring enzymes is essential for understanding and computationally predicting metabolite biosynthesis, but this information is usually scattered in the literature. Here, we present MITE, the Minimum Information about a Tailoring Enzyme database. MITE employs a comprehensive set of parameters to annotate tailoring enzymes, defining substrate and reaction specificity by the expressive reaction SMARTS (Simplified Molecular Input Line Entry System Arbitrary Target Specification) chemical pattern language. Both human and machine readable, MITE can be used as a knowledge base, for in silico biosynthesis, or to train machine-learning applications, and tightly integrates with existing resources. Designed as a community-driven and open resource, MITE employs a rolling release model of data curation and expert review. MITE is freely accessible at https://mite.bioinformatics.nl/.

References

Rutz, Adriano, Daniel Probst, César Aguilar, Daniel Y Akiyama, Fabrizio Alberti, Hannah E Augustijn, Nicole E Avalon, et al. 2025. “MITE: The Minimum Information about a Tailoring Enzyme Database for Capturing Specialized Metabolite Biosynthesis.” Nucleic Acids Research, September. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaf969.