β-Lactone formation during product release from a nonribosomal peptide synthetase

Jason E. Schaffer, Margaret R. Reck, Neha K. Prasad, Timothy A. Wencewicz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

51 Scopus citations

Abstract

Nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) are multidomain modular biosynthetic assembly lines that polymerize amino acids into a myriad of biologically active nonribosomal peptides (NRPs). NRPS thioesterase (TE) domains employ diverse release strategies for off-loading thioester-tethered polymeric peptides from termination modules typically via hydrolysis, aminolysis, or cyclization to provide mature antibiotics as carboxylic acids/esters, amides, and lactams/lactones, respectively. Here we report the enzyme-catalyzed formation of a highly strained β-lactone ring during TE-mediated cyclization of a β-hydroxythioester to release the antibiotic obafluorin (Obi) from an NRPS assembly line. The Obi NRPS (ObiF) contains a type I TE domain with a rare catalytic cysteine residue that plays a direct role in β-lactone ring formation. We present a detailed genetic and biochemical characterization of the entire Obi biosynthetic gene cluster in plant-associated Pseudomonas fluorescens ATCC 39502 that establishes a general strategy for β-lactone biogenesis.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)737-744
Number of pages8
JournalNature Chemical Biology
Volume13
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2017

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