Indole-3-pyruvic acid is transformed to prodeoxyviolacein by the novel enzyme VioE, which is involved in the violacein biosynthetic pathway in Chromobacteriumviolaceum ATCC12472. VioE catalyzes the decarboxylation and indole-ring rearrangement of a nascent compound that is produced from indole-3-pyruvic acid and NH4+ by the action of chromopyrrolic acid synthase (VioB or StaD), and ultimately the