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...     

How to tailor non-ribosomal peptide products--new clues about the structures and mechanisms of modifying enzymes

Non-ribosomal peptide products often contain modified building blocks or post-assembly line alterations of their peptide scaffolds with some of them being crucial for biological activity. These reactions such as halogenation, hydroxylation or glycosylation are mostly catalyzed by individual enzymes associated with the respective biosynthesis cluster. The versatile nature of these chemical modifications gives rise to a high degree of structural and functional diversity. Recent progress in this area enhances our insight about the mechanisms of these enzymes. Biotechnological applications might include the synthesis of novel, non-ribosomal peptide products or modified amino acid building blocks for pharmaceutical research.     

Cyanobacterial peptides - nature's own combinatorial biosynthesis

Cyanobacterial secondary metabolites have attracted increasing scientific interest due to bioactivity of many compounds in various test systems. Among the known structures, oligopeptides are often found with many congeners sharing conserved substructures, while being highly variable in others. A major part of known oligopeptides are of non-ribosomal origin and can be grouped into classes with conserved structural properties. Thus, the overall structural diversity of cyanobacterial oligopeptides only seemingly suggests an equally high diversity of biosynthetic pathways and respective genes. For each class of peptides, some of which have been found in all major branches of the cyanobacterial evolutionary tree, homologous synthetases and genes can be inferred. This implies that non-ribosomal peptide synthetase genes are a very ancient part of the cyanobacterial genome and presumably have evolved by recombination and duplication events to reach the present structural diversity of cyanobacterial oligopeptides. In addition, peptide synthetases would appear to be an essential part of the cyanobacterial evolution and physiology. The present review presents an overview of the biosynthesis of cyanobacterial peptides and corresponding gene clusters, the structural diversity of structural types and structural variations within peptide classes, and implications for the evolution and plasticity of biosynthetic genes and the potential function of cyanobacterial peptides.     

Predicted class-I aminoacyl tRNA synthetase-like proteins in non-ribosomal peptide synthesis

Background  

Recent studies point to a great diversity of non-ribosomal peptide synthesis systems with major roles in amino acid and co-factor biosynthesis, secondary metabolism, and post-translational modifications of proteins by peptide tags. The least studied of these systems are those utilizing tRNAs or aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (AAtRS) in non-ribosomal peptide ligation.     

Evolutionary relationships of adenylation domains in fungi

Non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) and NRPS-like enzymes are abundant in microbes as they are involved in the production of primary and secondary metabolites. In contrast to the well-studied NRPSs, known to produce non-ribosomal peptides, NRPS-like enzymes exhibit more diverse activities and their evolutionary relationships are unclear. Here, we present the first in-depth phylogenetic analysis of fungal NRPS-like A domains from functionally characterized pathways, and their relationships to characterized A domains found in fungal NRPSs. This study clearly differentiated amino acid reductases, including NRPSs, from CoA/AMP ligases, which could be divided into 10 distinct phylogenetic clades that reflect their conserved domain organization, substrate specificity and enzymatic activity. In particular, evolutionary relationships of adenylate forming reductases could be refined and explained the substrate specificity difference. Consistent with their phylogeny, the deduced amino acid code of A domains differentiated amino acid reductases from other enzymes. However, a diagnostic code was found for α-keto acid reductases and clade 7 CoA/AMP ligases only. Comparative genomics of loci containing these enzymes revealed that they can be independently recruited as tailoring genes in diverse secondary metabolite pathways. Based on these results, we propose a refined and clear phylogeny-based classification of A domain-containing enzymes, which will provide a robust framework for future functional analyses and engineering of these enzymes to produce new bioactive molecules.     

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。     

Role of MbtH-like proteins in the adenylation of tyrosine during aminocoumarin and vancomycin biosynthesis

MbtH-like proteins consist of ～70 amino acids and are encoded in the biosynthetic gene clusters of non-ribosomally formed peptides and other secondary metabolites derived from amino acids. Recently, several MbtH-like proteins have been shown to be required for the adenylation of amino acid in non-ribosomal peptide synthesis. We now investigated the role of MbtH-like proteins in the biosynthesis of the aminocoumarin antibiotics novobiocin, clorobiocin, and simocyclinone D8 and of the glycopeptide antibiotic vancomycin. The tyrosine-adenylating enzymes CloH, SimH, and Pcza361.18, involved in the biosynthesis of clorobiocin, simocyclinone D8, and vancomycin, respectively, required the presence of MbtH-like proteins in a 1:1 molar ratio, forming heterotetrameric complexes. In contrast, NovH, involved in novobiocin biosynthesis, showed activity in the absence of MbtH-like proteins. Comparison of the active centers of CloH and NovH showed only one amino acid to be different, i.e. Leu-383 versus Met-383. Mutation of this amino acid in CloH (L383M) indeed led to MbtH-independent adenylating activity. All investigated tyrosine-adenylating enzymes exhibited remarkable promiscuity for MbtH-like proteins from different pathways and organisms. YbdZ, the MbtH-like protein from the expression host Escherichia coli, was found to bind to adenylating enzymes during expression and to influence their biochemical properties markedly. Therefore, the use of ybdZ-deficient expression hosts is important in biochemical studies of adenylating enzymes.     

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。     

Mining novel biosynthetic machineries of secondary metabolites from actinobacteria

ABSTRACT

Secondary metabolites produced by actinobacteria have diverse structures and important biological activities, making them a useful source of drug development. Diversity of the secondary metabolites indicates that the actinobacteria exploit various chemical reactions to construct a structural diversity. Thus, studying the biosynthetic machinery of these metabolites should result in discovery of various enzymes catalyzing interesting and useful reactions. This review summarizes our recent studies on the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites from actinobacteria, including the biosynthesis of nonproteinogenic amino acids used as building blocks of nonribosomal peptides, the type II polyketide synthase catalyzing polyene scaffold, the nitrous acid biosynthetic pathway involved in secondary metabolite biosynthesis and unique cytochrome P450 catalyzing nitrene transfer. These findings expand the knowledge of secondary metabolite biosynthesis machinery and provide useful tools for future bioengineering.     

Probing the selectivity of β-hydroxylation reactions in non-ribosomal peptide synthesis using analytical ultracentrifugation

Bacteria and fungi use non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) to produce peptides of broad structural diversity and biological activity, many of which have proven to be of great importance for human health. The impressive diversity of non-ribosomal peptides originates in part from the action of tailoring enzymes that modify the structures of single amino acids and/or the mature peptide. Studying the interplay between tailoring enzymes and the peptidyl carrier proteins (PCPs) that anchor the substrates is challenging owing to the transient and complex nature of the protein–protein interactions. Using sedimentation velocity (SV) methods, we studied the collaboration between the PCPs and cytochrome P450 enzyme that results in the installation of β-hydroxylated amino acid precursors in the biosynthesis of the depsipeptide skyllamycin. We show that SV methods developed for the analytical ultracentrifuge are ideally suited for a quantitative exploration of PCP–enzyme equilibrium interactions. Our results suggest that the PCP itself and the presence of substrate covalently tethered to the PCP together facilitate productive PCP–P450 interactions, thereby revealing one of nature's intricate strategies for installing interesting functionalities using natural product synthetases.     

Studies on the biosynthesis of the lipodepsipeptide antibiotic Ramoplanin A2

Ramoplanin, a non-ribosomally synthesized peptide antibiotic, is highly effective against several drug-resistant Gram-positive bacteria, including vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), two important opportunistic human pathogens. Recently, the biosynthetic cluster from the ramoplanin producer Actinoplanes ATCC 33076 was sequenced, revealing an unusual architecture of fatty acid and non-ribosomal peptide synthetase biosynthetic genes (NRPSs). The first steps towards understanding how these biosynthetic enzymes cooperatively interact to produce the depsipeptide product are expression and isolation of each enzyme to probe its specificity and function. Here we describe the successful production of soluble enzymes from within the ramoplanin locus and the confirmation of their specific role in biosynthesis. These methods may be broadly applicable to the production of biosynthetic enzymes from other natural product biosynthetic gene clusters, especially those that have been refractory to production in heterologous hosts despite standard expression optimization methods.     

Phosphinothricin-tripeptide biosynthesis: An original version of bacterial secondary metabolism?

Streptomyces viridochromogenes Tü494 produces the herbicide phosphinothricyl-alanyl-alanine (phosphinothricin-tripeptide = PTT; bialaphos). Its bioactive moiety phosphinothricin competitively inhibits bacterial and plant glutamine synthetases. The biosynthesis of PTT includes the synthesis of the unusual amino acid N-acetyl-demethyl-phosphinothricin and a three step condensation via non-ribosomal peptide synthetases. Two characteristics within the PTT biosynthesis make it suitable to study the evolution of secondary metabolism biosynthesis. First, PTT biosynthesis represents the only known system where all peptide synthetase modules are located on separate proteins. This ‘single enzyme system’ might be an archetype of the multimodular and multienzymatic non-ribosomal peptide synthetases in evolutionary terms. The second interesting feature of PTT biosynthesis is the pathway-specific aconitase Pmi that is involved in the supply of N-acetyl-demethyl-phosphinothricin. Pmi is highly similar to the tricarboxylic acid aconitase AcnA. They share 64% identity at the DNA level and both belong to the Iron-Regulatory-Protein/AcnA family. Despite their high sequence similarity, AcnA and Pmi catalyze different reactions and are not able to substitute for each other. Thus, the enzyme pair AcnA/Pmi presents an example of the evolution of a secondary metabolite-specific enzyme from a primary metabolism enzyme.     

Molecular biology of peptide and polyketide biosynthesis in cyanobacteria

Cyanobacteria produce numerous and structurally diverse secondary metabolites, in particular nonribosomal peptide and polyketide structures. Various bioactivities could be assigned to these compounds, and some may prove useful either for development into commercial drugs or as biochemical research tools. Microcystin, a worldwide common cyanobacterial hepatotoxin, was the first metabolite whose nonribosomal biosynthesis could be confirmed by knock-out mutagenesis. The microcystin synthetase complex consists of peptide synthetases, polyketide synthases, and hybrid enzymes, and reveals a number of novel enzymatic features, signifying the potential of cyanobacterial biosynthetic systems for combinatorial biochemistry. Recent studies have shown the presence of peptide synthetase genes and polyketide synthase genes within a number of cyanobacterial genomes. This knowledge may be very valuable for future screening projects aimed at the detection of new bioactive compounds.     

The genetics of lantibiotic biosynthesis

The lantibiotics are a rapidly expanding group of biologically active peptides produced by a variety of Gram-positive bacteria, and are so-called because of their content of the thioether amino acids lanthionine and β-methyllanthionine. These amino acids, and indeed a number of other unusual amino acids found in the lantibiotics, arise following post-translational modification of a ribosomally synthesised precursor peptide. A number of genes involved in the biosynthesis of these highly modified peptides have been identified, including genes encoding the precursor peptide, enzymes responsible for specific amino acid modifications, proteases able to remove the leader peptide, ABC-superfamily transport proteins involved in lantibiotic translocation, regulatory proteins controlling lantibiotic biosynthesis and proteins that protect the producing strain from the action of its own lantibiotic. Analysis of these genes and their products is allowing greater understanding of the complex mechanism(s) of the biosynthesis of these unique peptides.     

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。     

Structural basis for acyl acceptor specificity in the achromobactin biosynthetic enzyme AcsD

Siderophores are known virulence factors, and their biosynthesis is a target for new antibacterial agents. A non-ribosomal peptide synthetase-independent siderophore biosynthetic pathway in Dickeya dadantii is responsible for production of the siderophore achromobactin. The D. dadantii achromobactin biosynthesis protein D (AcsD) enzyme has been shown to enantioselectively esterify citric acid with l-serine in the first committed step of achromobactin biosynthesis. The reaction occurs in two steps: stereospecific activation of citric acid by adenylation, followed by attack of the enzyme-bound citryl adenylate by l-serine to produce the homochiral ester. We now report a detailed characterization of the substrate profile and mechanism of the second (acyl transfer) step of AcsD enzyme. We demonstrate that the enzyme catalyzes formation of not only esters but also amides from the citryl-adenylate intermediate. We have rationalized the substrate utilization profile for the acylation reaction by determining the first X-ray crystal structure of a product complex for this enzyme class. We have identified the residues that are important for both recognition of l-serine and catalysis of ester formation. Our hypotheses were tested by biochemical analysis of various mutants, one of which shows a reversal of specificity from the wild type with respect to non-natural substrates. This change can be rationalized on the basis of our structural data. That this change in specificity is accompanied by no loss in activity suggests that AcsD and other members of the non-ribosomal peptide synthetase-independent siderophore superfamily may have biotransformation potential.     

Bioinformatics tools for genome mining of polyketide and non-ribosomal peptides

Microbial natural products have played a key role in the development of clinical agents in nearly all therapeutic areas. Recent advances in genome sequencing have revealed that there is an incredible wealth of new polyketide and non-ribosomal peptide natural product diversity to be mined from genetic data. The diversity and complexity of polyketide and non-ribosomal peptide biosynthesis has required the development of unique bioinformatics tools to identify, annotate, and predict the structures of these natural products from their biosynthetic gene clusters. This review highlights and evaluates web-based bioinformatics tools currently available to the natural product community for genome mining to discover new polyketides and non-ribosomal peptides.     

Induction of Arabidopsis tryptophan pathway enzymes and camalexin by amino acid starvation, oxidative stress, and an abiotic elicitor.

The tryptophan (Trp) biosynthetic pathway leads to the production of many secondary metabolites with diverse functions, and its regulation is predicted to respond to the needs for both protein synthesis and secondary metabolism. We have tested the response of the Trp pathway enzymes and three other amino acid biosynthetic enzymes to starvation for aromatic amino acids, branched-chain amino acids, or methionine. The Trp pathway enzymes and cytosolic glutamine synthetase were induced under all of the amino acid starvation test conditions, whereas methionine synthase and acetolactate synthase were not. The mRNAs for two stress-inducible enzymes unrelated to amino acid biosynthesis and accumulation of the indolic phytoalexin camalexin were also induced by amino acid starvation. These results suggest that regulation of the Trp pathway enzymes under amino acid deprivation conditions is largely a stress response to allow for increased biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. Consistent with this hypothesis, treatments with the oxidative stress-inducing herbicide acifluorfen and the abiotic elicitor alpha-amino butyric acid induced responses similar to those induced by the amino acid starvation treatments. The role of salicylic acid in herbicide-mediated Trp and camalexin induction was investigated.     

Cofactor biosynthesis through protein post-translational modification

Post-translational modifications of amino acids can be used to generate novel cofactors capable of chemistries inaccessible to conventional amino acid side chains. The biosynthesis of these sites often requires one or more enzyme or protein accessory factors, the functions of which are quite diverse and often difficult to isolate in cases where multiple enzymes are involved. Herein is described the current knowledge of the biosynthesis of urease and nitrile hydratase metal centers, pyrroloquinoline quinone, hypusine, and tryptophan tryptophylquinone cofactors along with the most recent work elucidating the functions of individual accessory factors in these systems. These examples showcase the breadth and diversity of this continually expanding field.     

Biosynthetic engineering of nonribosomal peptide synthetases

From the evolutionary melting pot of natural product synthetase genes, microorganisms elicit antibiotics, communication tools, and iron scavengers. Chemical biologists manipulate these genes to recreate similarly diverse and potent biological activities not on evolutionary time scales but within months. Enzyme engineering has progressed considerably in recent years and offers new screening, modelling, and design tools for natural product designers. Here, recent advances in enzyme engineering and their application to nonribosomal peptide synthetases are reviewed. Among the nonribosomal peptides that have been subjected to biosynthetic engineering are the antibiotics daptomycin, calcium‐dependent antibiotic, and gramicidin S. With these peptides, incorporation of unnatural building blocks and modulation of bioactivities via various structural modifications have been successfully demonstrated. Natural product engineering on the biosynthetic level is not a reliable method yet. However, progress in the understanding and manipulation of biosynthetic pathways may enable the routine production of optimized peptide drugs in the near future. Copyright © 2016 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.