达托霉素生产工艺及其衍生物组合生物合成

作为首个进入临床应用的环脂肽类抗生素,达托霉素自2003年上市以来,适应症不断增加,市场前景良好。达托霉素的制备工艺与结构修饰,已经成为了近年抗感染用药研发的一个热点。追溯了达托霉素的发现历程,生产工艺沿革。重点介绍了达托霉素的发酵工艺,合成基因簇研究进展,以及组合生物技术在达托霉素结构修饰中的应用。     

非核糖体肽的生物合成研究进展

非核糖体肽(nonribosomal peptide, NRP)是由多种微生物通过非核糖体肽合成酶(nonribosomal peptide synthetase, NRPS)等催化合成的一类小分子多肽类次级代谢产物,具有抗菌、抗肿瘤、免疫抑制等多种生物活性,是一类重要的微生物药物,具有很高的临床应用价值。从目前已发现的小分子多肽类天然药物出发,综述了该类物质的生物功能、合成组装机制以及近年来在工程改造方面的进展,并提出了未来研究发展方向,对进一步通过组合生物合成等方式高效合成更多种类的小分子多肽类活性物质具有借鉴意义。     

达托霉素耐药分子机制研究进展

环脂肽抗生素达托霉素抗菌活性强,致病菌不容易产生耐药性,已成为治疗革兰氏阳性菌特别是耐药菌感染的一线药物。但由于广泛使用,仍然出现了达托霉素耐药菌。细胞膜磷脂代谢和细胞壁结构动态与致病菌达托霉素耐药密切相关。文中综述了达托霉素作用机制和耐药机制,以期对药物研发和临床用药有所裨益。     

环境放线菌中的达托霉素抗性机制

[目的]研究环境放线菌中的达托霉素抗性机制,为临床耐药机制的出现提供预警.[方法]通过测定土壤放线菌(49株)和药用植物内生放线菌(10株)的达托霉素耐受谱,筛选达托霉素抗性菌株;通过达托霉素灭活实验,确定抗性菌株的灭活能力;通过形态观察和16S rRNA序列分析分类鉴定达托霉素降解菌.通过PCR扩增检测达托霉素去酰基化酶基因在降解菌株中的分布情况.[结果]本研究中所有的环境放线菌均耐受达托霉素.在土壤放线菌中和药物植物内生放线菌中,分别有24株(49.0％)和4株(40％)能够灭活达托霉素,25 (51.0％)株和6株(60％)通过其他机制耐受达托霉素.序列测定表明,链霉菌属(Streptomyces)、小单孢菌属(Mcromonospora)和诺卡氏菌属(Nocardia)的部分菌株有灭活达托霉素的能力.PCR扩增表明,5株(17.9％)放线菌含有编码达托霉素去酰基酶的基因.[结论]环境放线菌具有超高的达托霉素抗性频率,灭活达托霉素是主要抗性机制之一.     

生物表面活性剂Surfactin生产菌株的定向改造策略

表面活性素(Surfactin)是芽胞杆菌属(Bacillussp.)代谢产生的脂肽类生物表面活性剂,是由非核糖体肽合成酶(NRPS)催化而得的一种次级代谢产物。由于surfactin具有稳定性好、可被降解、表面活性好等理化性质以及抑菌、抗肿瘤等生物活性,在医药、农业、食品、化妆品、石油开采等方面都具有很大的应用潜力。但是,天然菌株产率低、生产成本高等特点限制了surfactin的规模化应用。本文对surfactin的合成机理进行了简要阐述,并针对目前提升surfactin产量和改变结构组分的4种定向改造策略(启动子工程、强化外排分泌、改造NRPS结构域和脂肪酸链合成酶系)进行了综述,最后对surfactin的研究方向进行了展望。     

二酮哌嗪类化合物生物合成研究进展

二酮哌嗪类化合物(Diketopiperazines,DKPs)的特征结构是由两个氨基酸通过肽键缩合而成的环二肽(Cyclic dipeptides),稳定的六元环骨架结构使DKPs在药物化学中成为一个重要的药效团,表现出多种生物活性与药理活性,日益引起人们的极大关注。随着现代生物技术和高通量测序技术的飞速发展,人们对DKPs生物合成的分子机制与酶学机理的认识不断深入,DKPs中氨基酸缩合的分子机制主要有两种:非核糖体肽合成酶(Non-ribosomal peptide synthases,NRPSs)途径和环二肽合成酶(Cycliodipeptide synthases,CDPSs)途径。本文就近年来DKPs的生物合成相关研究进展进行了综述。     

放线菌中铁载体生物合成机制研究进展

铁载体是由微生物产生,对铁元素具有高亲和性的小分子化合物。这类天然产物所展现的结构多样性引起人们对其生物合成机制的极大兴趣。目前已有研究报道的铁载体生物合成途径主要有2种,一是直接由非核糖体肽合成酶(Nonribosomal peptide synthetases,NRPSs)家族的多酶复合体负责合成,另一种是以不依赖于NRPS(NRPS-independent,NIS)的方式,由一类特殊合成酶家族参与合成。在过去的十多年中,铁载体生物合成成为天然产物生物合成研究领域的热点之一,其中几种依赖于NRPS途径合成的铁载体生物合成机制已得到充分阐明,而对NIS方式合成的铁载体研究也获得了诸多进展。作为放线菌的一类重要次级代谢产物,通过遗传学、化学等手段对放线菌所产生铁载体生物合成途径的遗传学和生物化学研究,能够为发展新的抗菌药物提供契机,同时也能加深我们对这一类生物活性物质形成机制的认识。综述近期该研究方向的进展。     

埃博霉素（Epothilones）的PKS/NRPS杂合基因簇

埃博霉素是由粘细菌纤维堆囊菌产生的一类具有促微管聚合活性的大环内酯类化合物。埃博霉素生物合成的多酶复合体是一个由多个功能模块组成,同时含有多聚酮合酶（PKS）和非核糖体肽合成酶（NRPS）的大操纵子。根据同位素标记试验结果和合成酶全基因簇功能的推测,埃博霉素的生物合成包括聚酮链的引发、链合成的起始和噻唑环的形成、链的延伸和转移、链合成的终止释放和环化、及产物的后修饰5个阶段。埃博霉素的PKS/NRPS杂合基因簇是开展组合生物合成研究的良好材料。     

新颖的黏细菌模块化天然产物装配线

黏细菌的显著特征之一是能够合成结构多样、功能丰富的天然产物．模块化聚酮合酶(PKS)和非核糖体肽合成酶(NRPS)途径是黏细菌合成天然产物的主要方式．与经典模块PKS/NRPS相比,黏细菌来源的模块化PKS/NRPS常表现出新颖的装配特征,显示出多样化的遗传加工潜能和装配产物结构多样性．本文综合归类分析了黏细菌来源的模块化PKS/NRPS遗传装配线类型及其对应化合物的生化结构特征,图文并茂地呈现了黏细菌在遗传、生化、组合生物合成、进化和药物开发领域的生机和潜能,并展望了基因组学时代带来的契机．     

达托霉素作为新的胰蛋白酶激活剂的初探

首次发现达托霉素是一种新的胰蛋白酶激活剂,当胰蛋白酶与达托霉素的物质的量的比在反应时达到34.05时,达托霉素对胰蛋白酶比活力的激活率平均达到32.92%。通过计算机模拟技术对达托霉素与胰蛋白酶以及达托霉素对胰蛋白酶底物复合物分别进行分子对接,并利用等温滴定量热法(Isothermal titration calorimetry,ITC)验证模拟结果。研究发现达托霉素与胰蛋白酶的活性中心位置很靠近,达托霉素链状中的天冬氨酸的R基与酶活性中心的组氨酸-57发生了氢键相互作用,达托霉素使酶和底物复合物结构更加稳定,从而有利于催化作用。ITC结果表明胰蛋白酶上具有1个达托霉素结合位点,解离常数Kd为17.83μM,摩尔结合焓△H为237.9±28.17 cal/mol,摩尔结合熵△S为22.5 cal/mol·deg,这些结果从热力学角度支持了分子对接结果。研究发现达托霉素除具有抗革兰氏阳性耐药性细菌的功能外,还能促进胰蛋白酶比活这一新的功能,是一种新的胰蛋白酶激活剂。     

放线菌环二肽类活性天然产物生物合成研究进展

环二肽(cyclodipeptide,CDP)是一类由2个α-氨基酸缩合而成的最小环肽分子,也可称为二酮哌嗪类化合物(diketopiperazines,DKPs)。CDP具有稳定的DKP环状骨架结构,活性广泛而显著,药用前景良好,发掘意义重大。放线菌是重要的CDP生产菌,同时具有非核糖体肽合成酶(nonribosomal peptide synthetase, NRPS)与环二肽合酶(cyclodipeptide synthase, CDPS)两种DKP骨架合成催化酶,并从中发现多种骨架结构修饰酶,研究开发价值巨大。本文系统介绍了放线菌CDP类活性化合物的DKP骨架合成途径及其结构修饰机制两方面的研究工作,以期为新型CDP类天然产物的发掘、新颖CDP分子生物合成机制的阐明及合成生物学设计与应用等领域的研究与实践提供参考。     

Architecture of a PKS-NRPS hybrid megaenzyme involved in the biosynthesis of the genotoxin colibactin

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Phylogenetic affiliation and determination of bioactive compounds of bacterial population associated with organs of mud crab,Scylla olivacea

Mud crab belongs to the genus Scylla is an economically valuable and preferred species for costal aquaculture in Asian countries, including India. In recent years, there has been a tremendous expansion of Scylla farming, which has led to increasing research on its habit and habitats. However, there has been no study undertaken to understand the role of the bacterial population associated with the different organs of the mud crab, Scylla olivacea. In total, 43 isolates were recovered from four selected parts of the crab (carapace, n?=?18; abdomen n?=?11; leg, n?=?8; and hand, n?=?6), and the 16S rRNA gene was used to identify the bacterial isolates. The antimicrobial potential along with the detection of modular polyketide synthase (PKSI), cytochrome P450 hydroxylase (CYP) and non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) gene clusters were investigated to show a relationship among the biosynthetic genes with their useful aspects. Additionally, the potential three strains (BPS_CRB12, BPS_CRB14 and BPS_CRB41), which showed significant antimicrobial activities, also showed the presence of twenty volatile compounds (VOCs) using GC–MS analysis. We conclude that the strain Aneurinibacillus aneurinilyticus BPS_CRB41 could be source for the production of bioactive compounds.     

Coelichelin, a new peptide siderophore encoded by the Streptomyces coelicolor genome: structure prediction from the sequence of its non-ribosomal peptide synthetase

A gene cluster for the non-ribosomal synthesis of a peptide of unknown structure has been identified in the partial genome sequence of Streptomyces coelicolor. Using molecular and computational analyses, the total structure of a tripeptide siderophore synthesized by the non-ribosomal peptide synthetase within the cluster has been deduced from the translated sequence of its encoding gene. This represents a novel method for the structural assignment of natural products from genome sequence data.     

Detection of nonribosomal peptide synthetase genes in Xylaria sp. BCC1067 and cloning of XyNRPSA

Nonribosomal peptides, synthesized by nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS), are an important group of diverse bioactive fungal metabolites. Xylaria sp. BCC1067, which is known to produce a variety of biologically active metabolites, was studied for gene encoding NRPS by two different PCR-based methods and seven different NRPS fragments were obtained. In addition, screening a genomic library with an amplified NRPS fragment as a probe identified a putative NRPS gene named XyNRPSA. The functionality of XyNRPSA for the production of a corresponding metabolite was probed by gene insertion inactivation. Comparing the disrupting metabolite profile with that of the wild type led to the identification of a speculated metabolite. The crude extract of Xylaria sp. BCC1067 also exhibits antifungal activity against the human pathogens Candida albicans and Trichophyton mentagrophytes. However, the evaluation of biological activity of the XyNRPSA product suggests that it is neither a compound with antifungal activity nor a siderophore. In the vicinity of XyNRPSA, a second gene (named XyPtB) was identified. Its localization and homology to orfB of the ergot alkaloid biosynthetic gene cluster suggests that XyPtB may be involved in XyNRPSA product biosynthesis.     

Isolation and characterisation of a partial peptide synthetase gene from Trichoderma asperellum

Many species of Trichoderma have attracted interest as agents for the biological control of soil borne fungal pathogens of a range of crop plants. Research on the biochemical mechanisms associated with this application has focused on the ability of these fungi to produce enzymes which lyse fungal cell walls, and antifungal antibiotics. An important group of the latter are the non-ribosomal peptides called peptaibols. In this study Trichoderma asperellum, a strain used in biological control in Malaysia, was found to produce the peptaibol, trichotoxin. This type of peptide molecule is synthesised by a peptide synthetase (PES) enzyme template encoded by a peptide synthetase (pes) gene. Using nucleotide sequences amplified from adenylation (A-) domains as probes, to hybridise against a lambda FIXII genomic library from T. asperellum, 25 clones were recovered. These were subsequently identified as representative of four groups based on their encoding properties for specific amino acid incorporation modules in a PES. This was based on analysis of their amino acid sequences which showed up to 86% identity to other PESs including TEX 1.     

An optimized ATP/PP(i)-exchange assay in 96-well format for screening of adenylation domains for applications in combinatorial biosynthesis

We report a new format for measuring ATP/[(32)P]pyrophosphate exchange in a higher throughput assay of adenylation domains (A-domains) of non-ribosomal peptide synthetases. These enzymes are key specificity determinants in the assembly line biosynthesis of non-ribosomal peptides, an important class of natural products with an activity spectrum ranging from antibiotic to antitumor activities. Our assay in 96-well format allows the rapid measurement of approximately 1000 data points per week as a basis for precise assessment of the kinetics of A-domains. The assay also allows quantitative high-throughput screening of the substrate specificity of A-domains identifying alternative, promiscuous substrates. We show that our assay is able to give high quality data for the T278A mutant of the A-domain of the tyrocidine synthetase module TycA with a 330-fold lower k(cat)/K(M). The large dynamic range of this assay will be useful for the screening of libraries of mutant A-domains. Finally we describe and evaluate a procedure for the high-throughput purification of A-domains in 96-well format for the latter purpose. Our approach will be of utility for mechanistic analysis, substrate profiling and directed evolution of the A-domains, to ultimately enable the combinatorial biosynthesis of non-natural analogues of non-ribosomal peptides that may have potential as alternative drug candidates.     

Detection of putative peptide synthetase genes in Trichoderma species: application of this method to the cloning of a gene from T. harzianum CECT 2413

Some of the secondary metabolites produced by Trichoderma, such as the peptaibols and other antibiotics, have a peptide structure and in their biosynthesis are involved proteins belonging to the Non-Ribosomal Peptide Synthetase family. In the present work, a PCR-mediated strategy was used to clone a region corresponding to an adenylation domain of a peptide synthetase (PS) gene from 10 different strains of Trichoderma. In addition, and using the fragment isolated by PCR from T. harzianum CECT 2413 as a probe, a fragment of 19.0 kb corresponding to a PS-encoding gene named salps1, including a 1.5 kb fragment of the promoter, was cloned and sequenced. The cloned region of salps1 contains four complete, and a fifth incomplete, modules, in which are found the adenylation, thiolation and condensation domains, but also an additional epimerization domain at the C-terminal end of the first module. The analysis of the Salps1 protein sequence, taking into consideration published data, suggests that it is neither a peptaibol synthetase nor a protein involved in siderophore biosynthesis. The presence of two breaks in the open reading frame and the expression of this gene under nitrogen starvation conditions suggest that salps1 could be a pseudogene.