Both the adenosine analogs cordycepin (3’-deoxyadenosine) and pentostatin (2’-deoxycoformycin) have anticancer activities. Cordycepin was first identified from the medicinal fungus Cordyceps militaris whereas pentostatin, an irreversible inhibitor of adenosine deaminase(ADA),was first identified form a bacterium.The latter has been developde as a commercial durg to treat hairy cell leukemia.

Prof.WANG Chengshu`s group at the Shanghai Institute of Plant and Physiology and Ecology of Chinese Academy of Scinences previously unvieiled the dual biosynthetic mechanism of cordycepin and pentostatin in C.militaris by folloeing a prtetor-protege strategy. The findings has