Purification of peptide synthetases involved in pristinamycin I biosynthesis.

Several assays of pristinamycin I synthetases based on adenylate or thioester formation were developed. Purification to near homogeneity of these enzymatic activities from cell extracts of Streptomyces pristinaespiralis showed that three enzymes could activate all pristinamycin I precursors. SnbA, a 3-hydroxypicolinic acid: AMP ligase activating the first pristinamycin I residue, was purified 200-fold, using an ATP-pyrophosphate exchange assay.

Differential behaviors of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli type II DNA topoisomerases.

Staphylococcus aureus gyrA and gyrB genes encoding DNA gyrase subunits were cloned and coexpressed in Escherichia coli under the control of the T7 promoter-T7 RNA polymerase system, leading to soluble gyrase which was purified to homogeneity. Purified gyrase was catalytically indistinguishable from the gyrase purified from S. aureus and did not contain detectable amounts of topoisomerases from the E.

Purification of the two-enzyme system catalyzing the oxidation of the D-proline residue of pristinamycin IIB during the last step of pristinamycin IIA biosynthesis.

High levels of conversion of 14C-labelled pristinamycin IIB (PIIB) to pristinamycin IIA (PIIA) were obtained in vivo in Streptomyces pristinaespiralis and in some other streptogramin A producers. This established that PIIB was an intermediate on the pathway to PIIA. In addition, in vitro studies with cell-free protein preparations demonstrated that the oxidation of PIIB to PIIA is a complex process requiring NADH, riboflavin 5'-phosphate (FMN), and molecular oxygen.