非核糖体肽合成酶装配机制研究进展CSCD

非核糖体多肽(nonribosomal peptide,NRP)是天然生物活性产物一大类群,组成结构多样,具有多种重要的药用价值。在微生物中催化非核糖体多肽生物合成的是非核糖体肽合成酶(nonribosomal peptide synthetase,NRPS),NRPS是一类模块酶系,模块的组装在非核糖体多肽合成及其环化中起着关键作用。本文主要对非核糖体肽合成酶常规模块组装模式及3种非常规合成模式进行综述,为深入了解和应用非核糖体肽合成酶在抗生素类生物活性物质中的作用提供理论依据。     

非核糖体肽合成酶装配机制研究进展

非核糖体多肽(nonribosomal peptide,NRP)是天然生物活性产物一大类群,组成结构多样,具有多种重要的药用价值。在微生物中催化非核糖体多肽生物合成的是非核糖体肽合成酶(nonribosomal peptide synthetase,NRPS),NRPS是一类模块酶系,模块的组装在非核糖体多肽合成及其环化中起着关键作用。本文主要对非核糖体肽合成酶常规模块组装模式及3种非常规合成模式进行综述,为深入了解和应用非核糖体肽合成酶在抗生素类生物活性物质中的作用提供理论依据。     

非核糖体肽合成酶(NRPSs)作用机理与应用的研究进展

许多微生物能利用非核糖体肽合成酶(NRPSs)合成结构复杂、种类繁多的的生物活性肽。非核糖体肽因其独特的理化特性和药理学特性已被广泛关注,极具商业开发潜力。NRPSs由多个模块组成,模块的不同空间排列顺序决定其多肽产物的氨基酸序列特异性。NRPSs以多载体巯基化模板机理进行多肽合成,其底物特异性由腺苷酰化结构域和缩合结构域共同实现。目前,人们已经利用天然的NRPSs、某些特定结构域、将已知NRPSs的模块或特定结构域进行组合甚至杂合组合而构建成的新的NRPSs来合成目的多肽。     

海洋细菌Pseudoalteromonas sp. NJ631中NRPS基因簇及核心模件的发掘

[目的]运用基因组信息发掘技术(Genome Mining)对海洋细菌Pseudoalteromonas sp.NJ631基因组中的非核糖体肽合成酶(Nonribosomal peptides synthetases,NRPSs)基因簇资源及其核心模件进行发掘分析,旨在为Pseudoalteromonas属中非核糖体肽(Nonribosomal peptides,NRPs)的发现提供理论依据和数据支持.[方法]依托第二代测序技术获得的Pseudoalteromonas sp.NJ631基因组序列草图,在分析其次生代谢产物编码基因的基础上,利用NRPS-PKS knowledgebase在线预测软件鉴定潜在的NRPSs基因簇,并对其基因组中的NRPSs核心模件腺苷酰化(Adenylation,A)结构域编码基因信息进行发掘.[结果]在NJ631基因组序列草图中发现3个典型结构组成的NRPSs基因簇,命名为NGC1、NGC2和NGC3,分别位于scaffold6,9和11.进一步的结构域预测分析表明,3个NRPSs基因簇均含有3个ORFs,其中NGC1编码7个NRPSs模块 ;NGC2和NGC3均编码6个NRPSs模块.对A结构域的信息发掘显示NJ631基因组中含有38个A结构域编码基因,特异性选择18种氨基酸底物.[结论]通过运用基因组信息发掘技术对海洋细菌Pseudoalteromonas sp.N J631全基因组信息进行NRPSs基因簇及核心模件A结构域的发掘分析,结果提示,通常只在放线菌或真菌中发现的NRPSs基因资源也在Pseudoalteromonas属中大量存在.研究结果也为今后Pseudoalteromonas属中非核糖体肽(Nonribosomal peptides,NRPs)的发现提供理论依据.     

非核糖体肽合成酶的末端硫酯酶与多肽环化

非核糖体肽合成酶（nonribosomal peptide synthetases,NRPSs）能以多载体巯基化模板机制合成各种结构复杂、种类繁多的次生代谢非核糖体环肽.根据环肽末端环化的方式,可分为两大类：大环内酯型和内酰胺型.负责非核糖体环肽最终环化的硫酯酶（thioesterase,TE）属于α/β水解酶超家族.该家族包括：脂酶、蛋白酶、酯酶等,其共有特征是含有保守的催化三元件（Ser-His-Asp）,起到终止反应和释放产物的功能. TE具有区域定向性（regiospecific）、化学定向性（chemospecific）及立体定向性（stereospecific）的特点,在非核糖体肽（nonribosomal peptide,NRP）的合成反应中具有决定性作用,直接影响到最终环肽的生成. 同时,TE由于其特有的环化和水解的双重活性,在体外的线性多肽环化中越来越受到众多学者的关注. 综合国内外相关文献,本文着重从TE介导下的产物释放机制和影响因素两个方面综述非核糖体末端硫酯酶的研究进展及其应用.     

枯草芽孢杆菌抗菌肽生物合成的研究进展

革兰氏阳性菌模式生物--枯草芽孢杆菌能分泌多种肽类及由肽类衍生的抗菌活性物质,按合成途径不同,可分为核糖体肽和非核糖体肽。其中,非核糖体肽分子量较小,一般为3000Da以下,其生物合成是通过多功能复合酶系--非核糖体肽链合成酶来完成的,多发生在菌体生长停止之后;而核糖体肽分子量较大,其合成多于菌体快速生长时期。非核糖体肽链合成酶和核糖体肽的合成及其调控均需基因参与,而这一系列基因就构成了各种抗菌肽生物合成的基因簇。对核糖体肽和非核糖体肽的生物合成及其相关调控机制进行了综述。     

木霉peptaibols抗菌肽的研究进展

Peptaibols是一类由非核糖体肽合成酶(NRPSs)合成的富含α-氨基异丁酸(Aib)的特殊抗菌肽.目前发现的317种peptaibols大多由木霉属真菌产生.本文对木霉产生的这类特殊抗菌肽-peptaibols的多样性、发酵、分离纯化、鉴定及其生物合成进行了综述.     

肽基载体蛋白结构功能的研究进展

肽基载体蛋白(peptidyl carrier protein,PCP)是非核糖体肽合成酶(non-ribosomal peptide synthetase,NRPS)的核心结构域。根据NRPS的装配机制,每个模块都至少包含一个PCP,PCP对于非核糖体肽合成中氨基酸残基及多肽在不同催化结构域中的传递起着重要作用,并为氨基酸残基和多肽向模块内其他修饰酶的转移提供一个平台。本文主要对PCP的结构功能、与其他催化结构域的相互作用及重组模块活性降低的问题等方面进行了综述,期望为重组NRPS模块的构建提供理论依据。     

非核糖体肽合成酶工程改造研究进展

非核糖体肽合成酶合成的非核糖体肽类天然产物具有丰富的结构和多样的功能,在医药、农业、工业等领域具有广泛的应用潜力.利用合成生物技术工程改造非核糖体肽合成酶,在微生物细胞工厂中组合生物合成新型非核糖体肽分子顺应绿色化学的发展理念,是国内外学者关注的热点.文中归纳了3种不同的非核糖体肽合成酶工程改造策略,并对近年来相关领域...     

嗜水气单胞菌非核糖体肽合成酶基因功能研究

非核糖体肽是微生物体内一类具有天然生物活性的次生代谢物,由非核糖体肽合成酶催化生成。而AHA2474和AHA2476是嗜水气单胞菌ATCC7966中两个编码非核糖体肽合成酶的基因。利用同源重组技术分别构建了AHA2474、AHA2476基因缺失株,并对其生理特性进行测定。结果表明,与野生株相比,缺失株的溶血性和胞外蛋白酶活性均显著增强,而产铁能力明显减弱;在缺铁条件下,缺失株的生长能力较弱,补充铁离子后又能恢复生长。同时在过氧化氢应激下ΔAHA2474菌株具有更大的耐受性。以上研究结果提示AHA2474和AHA2476基因可能通过影响铁离子动态平衡过程来调控该菌的生理特性,同时也表明非核糖体肽在该菌致病性方面起作用,为探究该菌的致病机制及防治策略提供理论依据。     

Accessing natural product biosynthetic processes by mass spectrometry

Two important classes of natural products are made by nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) and polyketide synthases (PKSs). With most biosynthetic intermediates covalently tethered during biogenesis, protein mass spectrometry (MS) has proven invaluable for their interrogation. New mass spectrometric assay formats (such as selective cofactor ejection and proteomics style LC-MS) are showcased here in the context of functional insights into new breeds of NRPS/PKS enzymes, including the first characterization of an 'iterative' PKS, the biosynthesis of the enediyne antitumor antibiotics, the study of a new strategy for PKS initiation via a GNAT-like mechanism, and the analysis of branching strategies in the so-called 'AT-less' NRPS/PKS hybrid systems. The future of MS analysis of NRPS and PKS biosynthetic pathways lies in adoption and development of methods that continue bridging enzymology with proteomics as both fields continue their post-genomic acceleration.     

Roles of type II thioesterases and their application for secondary metabolite yield improvement

A large number of antibiotics and other industrially important microbial secondary metabolites are synthesized by polyketide synthases (PKSs) and nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs). These multienzymatic complexes provide an enormous flexibility in formation of diverse chemical structures from simple substrates, such as carboxylic acids and amino acids. Modular PKSs and NRPSs, often referred to as megasynthases, have brought about a special interest due to the colinearity between enzymatic domains in the proteins working as an “assembly line” and the chain elongation and modification steps. Extensive efforts toward modified compound biosynthesis by changing organization of PKS and NRPS domains in a combinatorial manner laid good grounds for rational design of new structures and their controllable biosynthesis as proposed by the synthetic biology approach. Despite undeniable progress made in this field, the yield of such “unnatural” natural products is often not satisfactory. Here, we focus on type II thioesterases (TEIIs)—discrete hydrolytic enzymes often encoded within PKS and NRPS gene clusters which can be used to enhance product yield. We review diverse roles of TEIIs (removal of aberrant residues blocking the megasynthase, participation in substrate selection, intermediate, and product release) and discuss their application in new biosynthetic systems utilizing PKS and NRPS parts.     

Pyridinyl polythiazole class peptide antibiotic micrococcin P1, secreted by foodborne Staphylococcus equorum WS2733, is biosynthesized nonribosomally.

Recently, foodborne Staphylococcus equorum WS2733 was isolated from a French red smear cheese on account of its strong inhibitory activity against Gram-positive pathogens such as Listeria. The antagonistic substance was identified as macrocyclic peptide antibiotic micrococcin P1, which had previously not been reported for the genus Staphylococcus. Micrococcin P1, also a potent inhibitor of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, is structurally related to thiostrepton, thiocillins and nosiheptide. Although all of these peptide antibiotics have been known for quite a long time, their mode of biosynthesis had not been determined in detail yet. By using degenerated PCR, a gene fragment encoding a nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) could be amplified from S. equorum. The corresponding chromosomal locus was disrupted by insertional mutagenesis, and it could be shown that all mutants obtained displayed a micrococcin P1-deficient phenotype. Sequence analysis of a coherent 2.8-kb fragment revealed extensive homology to known NRPSs, and allowed the assignment of the domain organization 'condensation-adenylation-thiolation-condensation'; an arrangement predicted only for two loci within the presumably 14-modular, 1.6-MDa biosynthetic NRPS template. Biochemical characterization of the adenylation domain exhibited selectivity for the substrate amino-acid threonine. All of these data substantiate that the macrocyclic peptide antibiotic is biosynthesized nonribosomally, and provide the basis for the characterization of the entire biosynthetic gene cluster. The biosynthetic machinery of micrococcin will serve as a model system for structurally related, pharmacologically important pyridinyl polythiazole class peptide antibiotics. Furthermore, this knowledge will enable the manipulation of its NRPS template, which in turn may grant the targeted engineering of even more potent anti-listerial and anti-malaria drugs.     

Generality of peptide cyclization catalyzed by isolated thioesterase domains of nonribosomal peptide synthetases

The C-terminal thioesterase (TE) domains from nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) catalyze the final step in the biosynthesis of diverse biologically active molecules. In many systems, the thioesterase domain is involved in macrocyclization of a linear precursor presented as an acyl-S-enzyme intermediate. The excised thioesterase domain from the tyrocidine NRPS has been shown to catalyze the cyclization of a peptide thioester substrate which mimics its natural acyl-S-enzyme substrate. In this work we explore the generality of cyclization catalyzed by isolated TE domains. Using synthetic peptide thioester substrates from 6 to 14 residues in length, we show that the excised TE domain from the tyrocidine NRPS can be used to generate an array of sizes of cyclic peptides with comparable kinetic efficiency. We also studied the excised TE domains from the NRPSs which biosynthesize the symmetric cyclic decapeptide gramicidin S and the cyclic lipoheptapeptide surfactin A. Both TE domains exhibit expected cyclization activity: the TE domain from the gramicidin S NRPS catalyzes head-to-tail cyclization of a decapeptide thioester to form gramicidin S, and the TE domain from the surfactin NRPS catalyzes stereospecific cyclization to form a macrolactone analogue of surfactin. With an eye toward generating libraries of cyclic molecules by TE catalysis, we report the solid-phase synthesis and TE-mediated cyclization of a small pool of linear peptide thioesters. These studies provide evidence for the general utility of TE catalysis as a means to synthesize a wide range of macrocyclic compounds.     

Exploitation of the selectivity-conferring code of nonribosomal peptide synthetases for the rational design of novel peptide antibiotics

Recently, the solved crystal structure of a phenylalanine-activating adenylation (A) domain enlightened the structural basis for the specific recognition of the cognate substrate amino acid in nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs). By adding sequence comparisons and homology modeling, we successfully used this information to decipher the selectivity-conferring code of NRPSs. Each codon combines the 10 amino residues of a NRPS A domain that are presumed to build up the substrate-binding pocket. In this study, the deciphered code was exploited for the first time to rationally alter the substrate specificity of whole NRPS modules in vitro and in vivo. First, the single-residue Lys239 of the L-Glu-activating initiation module C-A(Glu)-PCP of the surfactin synthetase A was mutated to Gln239 to achieve a perfect match to the postulated L-Gln-activating binding pocket. Biochemical characterization of the mutant protein C-A(Glu)-PCP(Lys239 --> Gln) revealed the postulated alteration in substrate specificity from L-Glu to L-Gln without decrease in catalytic efficiency. Second, according to the selectivity-conferring code, the binding pockets of L-Asp and L-Asn-activating A domains differs in three positions: Val299 versus Ile, His322 versus Glu, and Ile330 versus Val, respectively. Thus, the binding pocket of the recombinant A domain AspA, derived from the second module of the surfactin synthetases B, was stepwisely adapted for the recognition of L-Asn. Biochemical characterization of single, double, and triple mutants revealed that His322 represents a key position, whose mutation was sufficient to give rise to the intended selectivity-switch. Subsequently, the gene fragment encoding the single-mutant AspA(His322 --> Glu) was introduced back into the surfactin biosynthetic gene cluster. The resulting Bacillus subtilis strain was found to produce the expected so far unknown lipoheptapeptide [Asn(5)]surfactin. This indicates that site-directed mutagenesis, guided by the selectivity-conferring code of NRPS A domains, represents a powerful alternative for the genetic manipulation of NRPS biosynthetic templates and the rational design of novel peptide antibiotics.     

Module evolution and substrate specificity of fungal nonribosomal peptide synthetases involved in siderophore biosynthesis

Background  

Most filamentous ascomycete fungi produce high affinity iron chelators called siderophores, biosynthesized nonribosomally by multimodular adenylating enzymes called nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs). While genes encoding the majority of NRPSs are intermittently distributed across the fungal kingdom, those encoding ferrichrome synthetase NRPSs, responsible for biosynthesis of ferrichrome siderophores, are conserved, which offers an opportunity to trace their evolution and the genesis of their multimodular domain architecture. Furthermore, since the chemistry of many ferrichromes is known, the biochemical and structural 'rules' guiding NRPS substrate choice can be addressed using protein structural modeling and evolutionary approaches.     

Biosynthetic Pathway of Cephabacins in Lysobacter lactamgenus: Molecular and Biochemical Characterization of the Upstream Region of the Gene Clusters for Engineering of Novel Antibiotics

The cephabacins, one of the beta-lactam antibiotics, are produced by Lysobacter lactamgenus. The previous studies the cephabacin biosynthesis were limited to a gene cluster that encodes the gene products responsible for the biosynthesis of the cephem nucleus. The long-term goal of this research is to elucidate the metabolic diversity and biosynthetic pathway of cephabacins and to design and/or discover new pharmacologically active compounds by engineering the cephabacin biosynthetic pathway in L. lactamgenus. In this study, we have cloned and sequenced a 24-kb fragment of a DNA locus upstream of the previously reported but incomplete putative ORF9 of L. lactamgenus. This contains three putative ORFs (the complete ORF9, ORF10, and ORF11) transcribed in the same direction and one putative ORF (ORF12) in the opposite direction. The isolated DNA locus extends the previously cloned part of the DNA locus containing the genes responsible for biosynthesis of the cephem nucleus up to 45 kb. The 42-kb fragment of the 45-kb gene cluster is located between a potential TATA box just upstream of the ORF11 and a termination loop just downstream of the previously reported bla gene. The complete ORF9 contains three nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) modules and one polyketide synthase (PKS) module and the ORF11 contains one NRPS module. The complete ORF9 also contains a putative thioesterase domain at the C-terminal end. We predicted the amino acid specificity of the four NRPSs by generating specificity binding pockets and expressed one of the NRPSs to confirm the amino acid specificity. The adenylation domain of the NRPS1, which is the last module of the NRPSs, showed significant amino acid specificity for L-arginine. These findings are in perfect agreement with the composition that was expected for the structure of cephabacins which contain an acetate residue, an L-arginine, and one to three L-alanines at the C-3' position of the cephem nucleus of cephabacins. The ORF10, encoding a putative ABC transporter which might be involved in conferring resistance against cephabacins, was identified between the complete ORF9 and the ORF11. Therefore, the complete ORF9, ORF10, ORF11 reported here and the other genes previously reported constitute an operon for the biosynthesis of cephabacins in L. lactamgenus. Based on our results, the biosynthetic pathways of acetate and elongated peptide moieties and a mechanism by which cephabacins are assembled by connecting the peptide moiety synthesized by the gene products of the complete ORF9 and the ORF11 to the C-3' position of the cephem nucleus synthesized by the gene products of pcbAB, pcbC, cefE, cefF, and cefD have been elucidated.     

Chain initiation in the leinamycin-producing hybrid nonribosomal peptide/polyketide synthetase from Streptomyces atroolivaceus S-140. Discrete, monofunctional adenylation enzyme and peptidyl carrier protein that directly load D-alanine

Nonribosomal peptide natural products are biosynthesized from amino acid precursors by nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs), which are organized into modules. For a typical NRPS initiation module, an adenylation (A) domain activates an amino acid and installs it onto a peptidyl carrier protein (PCP) domain as a thioester; an elongation module, which has a condensation (C) domain located between every consecutive pair of A and PCP domains, catalyzes the formation of the peptide bond between the upstream aminoacyl/peptidyl-S-PCP and the free amino group of the downstream aminoacyl-S-PCP. D-amino acid constituents in peptide natural products usually arise from the L-enantiomers through the action of integral epimerization (E) domains of an NRPS. The biosynthetic gene cluster for leinamycin, a hybrid nonribosomal peptide/polyketide containing a D-alanine moiety, does not encode a typical NRPS initiation module with the expected A-PCP-E domains; instead, it has only an A protein (LnmQ) and a PCP (LnmP), both of which are encoded by separate genes. Here we show the results of biochemical experiments as follows: (i) we demonstrate that LnmQ directly activates D-alanine as D-alaninyl-AMP and installs it onto LnmP to generate a D-alaninyl-S-PCP intermediate; (ii) we confirm that aminoacylation of LnmP by LnmQ in trans is the result of specific communication between the separate A and PCP proteins; and (iii) we reveal that leinamycin production can be improved by supplementation of exogenous D-alanine in the fermentation broth of Streptomyces atroolivaceous S-140. These findings unveil an unprecedented NRPS initiation module structure that is characterized by a discrete D-alanine-specific A protein and a PCP.