Affiliation:
1. Key Laboratory of Combinatory Biosynthesis and Drug Discovery (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China
Abstract
Dithiolopyrrolone antibiotics are well known for their outstanding biological activities, and their biosynthesis has been studied vigorously. However, the biosynthesis mechanism of the characteristic bicyclic scaffold is still unknown after years of research. To uncover this mechanism, a multi-domain non-ribosomal peptide synthase DtpB from the biosynthetic gene cluster of thiolutin was selected as an object to study. We discovered that its adenylation domain not only recognized and adenylated cysteine, but also played an essential role in the formation of the peptide bond. Notably, an eight-membered ring compound was also discovered as an intermediate during the formation of the bicyclic structure. Based on these findings, we propose a new mechanism for the biosynthesis of the bicyclic scaffold of dithiolopyrrolones, and unveil additional functions of the adenylation domain.
Funder
National Key R&D Program of China
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
Subject
Pharmacology (medical),Infectious Diseases,Microbiology (medical),General Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics,Biochemistry,Microbiology