Expanded repetoire: Synthetic amino acids translated into propeptides dramatically increase the chemical diversity of the two-component lantibiotic lichenicidin. This opens new routes towards novel and unique peptide antibiotic sequences, which could display features important for medical applications.

Expansion of the structural diversity of peptide antibiotics was performed through two different methods. Supplementation-based incorporation (SPI) and stop-codon suppression (SCS) approaches were used for co-translational incorporation of isostructural and orthogonal noncanonical amino acids (ncAAs) into the lasso peptide capistruin. Two ncAAs were employed for the SPI method and five for the SCS method; each of them probing the incorporation of ncAAs in strategic positions of the molecule. Evaluation of the assembly by HR-ESI-MS proved more successful for the SCS method. Bio-orthogonal chemistry was used for post-biosynthetic modification of capistruin congener Cap_Alk10 containing the ncAA Alk (Nε-Alloc-L-lysine) instead of Ala. A second-generation Hoveyda-Grubbs catalyst was used for an in vitro metathesis reaction with Cap_Alk10 and an allyl alcohol, which offers options for post-biosynthetic modifications. The use of synthetic biology allows for the in vivo production of new peptide-based antibiotics from an expanded amino acid repertoire.

Lantibiotics are an important class of ribosomally synthesised peptide antibiotics with a remarkable pharmacological potential. Structural variants of lantibiotics generated by peptide engineering in vivo are an important aspect for improving the peptide's efficacy, stability and bioavailability as well as production titre, which severely impacts the potential exploitation in pharmaceutical applications. Therefore, expression systems are needed which allow for a robust genetic access for ample mutagenesis experiments. Based on previous heterologous expression of the two-component lanthipeptide lichenicidin (Bliα and Bliβ) in Escherichia coli BLic5, we now employ a multigene assembly strategy for recombinant lantibiotic peptide production in the Gram-negative host. Two E. coli high copy plasmids for separate and increased expression of a two-component lantibiotic were cloned and tested for expression. From these E. coli HP expression strains, an up to 100 times increased expression was found compared with Bacillus licheniformis I89 and E. coli BLic5. Total expression yields reach 4 mg L(-1) for Bliα and 6 mg L(-1) for Bliβ. The expression system developed in this study constitutes an important cornerstone for future in vivo peptide engineering studies and is of significance for potential applications aiming at higher production titres of ribosomally synthesised, post translationally modified peptides.

Genetic code engineering that enables reassignment of genetic codons to non-canonical amino acids (ncAAs) is a powerful strategy for enhancing ribosomally synthesized peptides and proteins with functions not commonly found in Nature. Here we report the expression of a ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide (RiPP), the 32-mer lantibiotic lichenicidin with a canonical tryptophan (Trp) residue replaced by the ncAA L-β-(thieno[3,2-b]pyrrolyl)alanine ([3,2]Tpa) which does not sustain cell growth in the culture. We have demonstrated that cellular toxicity of [3,2]Tpa for the production of the new-to-nature bioactive congener of lichenicidin in the host Escherichia coli can be alleviated by using an evolutionarily adapted host strain MT21 which not only tolerates [3,2]Tpa but also uses it as a proteome-wide synthetic building block. This work underscores the feasibility of the biocontainment concept and establishes a general framework for design and large scale production of RiPPs with evolutionarily adapted host strains.

The Gram-positive bacterium Paenibacillus larvae (P. larvae) is the causative agent of a deadly honey bee brood disease called American Foulbrood (AFB). AFB is a notifiable epizootic in most countries and, hence, P. larvae is of considerable relevance for veterinarians and apiculturists alike. Over the last decade, much progress has been made in the understanding of the (patho)biology of P. larvae. Recently, several non-ribosomally produced peptides (NRP) and peptide/polyketide (NRP/PK) hybrids produced by P. larvae were identified. Among these NRPs were iturin-like lipopeptides, the paenilarvins A-C. Iturins are known to exhibit strong anti-fungal activity; for some iturins, cytotoxic activity towards mammalian erythrocytes and human cancer cell lines are described. We here present our results on the analysis of the natural function of the paenilarvins during pathogenesis of P. larvae infections. We demonstrated production of paenilarvins in infected larvae. However, we could neither demonstrate cytotoxicity of paenilarvins towards cultured insect cells nor towards larvae in feeding assays. Accordingly, exposure bioassays performed with larvae infected by wild-type P. larvae and a knockout mutant of P. larvae lacking production of paenilarvins did not substantiate a role for the paenilarvins as virulence factor. Further experiments are necessary to analyze the relevance of the paenilarvins’ anti-fungal activity for P. larvae infections in the presence of fungal competitors in the larval midgut or cadaver.