The biosynthesis of methanobactin

Abstract

Using iron to generate a copper ligand Many microbial enzymes are metal-dependent, and the microbe must acquire scarce metals from the environment. Microbes that use methane as a carbon source have a copper-dependent enzyme that oxidizes the methane. Peptides known as methanobactins (Mbns) acquire copper by using a pair of ligands comprising a nitrogen-containing ring and an adjacent thioamide. Kenney et al. describe the biosynthetic machinery that adds the copper-binding groups to a precursor peptide. This involves a complex of two homologs: MbnB, a member of a functionally uncharacterized protein family that includes a diiron cluster, and MbnC, which is even less well characterized. The iron cofactor is required for ligand synthesis. MbnB and MbnC homologs are encoded in many genomes, suggesting that they may have roles beyond Mbn biosynthesis. Science , this issue p. 1411