The last step of kanamycin biosynthesis: unique deamination reaction catalyzed by the α-ketoglutarate-dependent nonheme iron dioxygenase KanJ and the NADPH-dependent reductase KanK.

Mystery solved: using heterologous expression, the activities of two enzymes exclusively belonging to the kanamycin biosynthetic pathway have been identified in vitro. A distinctive reaction mechanism to produce kanamycin is proposed and the previously unknown catalytic deamination activity of KanJ dioxygenase is uncovered.