Characterization of a Dehydratase and Methyltransferase in the Biosynthesis of Ribosomally Synthesized and Post-translationally Modified Peptides in Lachnospiraceae.

As a result of the exponential increase in genomic data, discovery of novel ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide natural products (RiPPs) has progressed rapidly in the past decade. The lanthipeptides are a major subset of RiPPs. Through genome mining we identified a novel lanthipeptide biosynthetic gene cluster (lah) from Lachnospiraceae bacterium C6A11, an anaerobic bacterium that is a member of the human microbiota and which is implicated in the development of host disease states such as type 2 diabetes and resistance to Clostridium difficile colonization.

Biosynthesis of the RiPP trojan horse nucleotide antibiotic microcin C is directed by the -formyl of the peptide precursor.

Microcin C7 (McC) is a peptide antibiotic modified by a linkage of the terminal isoAsn amide to AMP a phosphoramidate bond. Post-translational modification on this ribosomally produced heptapeptide precursor is carried out by MccB, which consumes two equivalents of ATP to generate the N-P linkage. We demonstrate that MccB only efficiently processes the precursor heptapeptide that retains the -formylated initiator Met (fMet).

A Single Amino Acid Switch Alters the Isoprene Donor Specificity in Ribosomally Synthesized and Post-Translationally Modified Peptide Prenyltransferases.

Mutation at a single amino acid alters the isoprene donor specificity of prenyltransferases involved in the modification of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs). Though most characterized RiPP prenyltransferases carry out the regiospecific transfer of C dimethylallyl donor to the side chain atoms on macrocyclic acceptor substrates, the elucidation of the cyanobactin natural product piricyclamide 70005E1 identifies an O-geranyl modification on Tyr, a reaction with little prior biochemical precedence. Reconstitution and kinetic studies of the presumptive geranyltransferase PirF shows that the enzyme utilizes a C donor, with no C transferase activity.

Characterization of the macrocyclase involved in the biosynthesis of RiPP cyclic peptides in plants.

Enzymes that can catalyze the macrocyclization of linear peptide substrates have long been sought for the production of libraries of structurally diverse scaffolds via combinatorial gene assembly as well as to afford rapid in vivo screening methods. Orbitides are plant ribosomally synthesized and posttranslationally modified peptides (RiPPs) of various sizes and topologies, several of which are shown to be biologically active. The diversity in size and sequence of orbitides suggests that the corresponding macrocyclases may be ideal catalysts for production of cyclic peptides.

The pimeloyl-CoA synthetase BioW defines a new fold for adenylate-forming enzymes.

Reactions that activate carboxylates through acyl-adenylate intermediates are found throughout biology and include acyl- and aryl-CoA synthetases and tRNA synthetases. Here we describe the characterization of Aquifex aeolicus BioW, which represents a new protein fold within the superfamily of adenylating enzymes. Substrate-bound structures identified the enzyme active site and elucidated the mechanistic strategy for conjugating CoA to the seven-carbon α,ω-dicarboxylate pimelate, a biotin precursor.