This review provides a comprehensive update of the advances in discovery, biosynthesis, and engineering of ribosomally-synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs).

Macrophages are typically stimulated by components of microbial cell walls. Surprisingly, cell wall–less mycoplasmas can also very efficiently stimulate macrophages. We showed recently that mycoplasma-derived lipopeptides constitute the active principle. We have now isolated a clone of Mycoplasma fermentans expressing mainly one macrophage-stimulating lipopeptide. This lipopeptide was detergent-extracted and isolated by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromotography, using nitric oxide release from C3H/HeJ mouse macrophages as bioassay for detection. In contrast to “conventional” bacterial lipoproteins, this lipopeptide had a free NH2 terminus. Amino acid composition, sequence, and the molecular weight of 2,163.3 are consistent with the following structure: S-(2,3-bisacyloxypropyl)cysteine-GNNDESNISFKEK with one mole C16:0, and a further mole of a mixture of C18:0 and C18:1 fatty acid per lipopeptide molecule. The sequence could not be found in either the protein identification resource nor the Swiss Prot data bank. We named this 2-kD lipopeptide, macrophage-activating lipopeptide-2 (MALP-2). Synthetic dipalmitoyl MALP-2 and mycoplasma-derived MALP-2 were compared with the bioassay. Both lipopeptides showed an identical dose dependency with a half-maximal response at 10−11 M concentration. MALP-2 may be one of the most potent natural macrophage stimulators besides endotoxin.

The polysaccharide intercellular adhesin (PIA) is an important factor in the colonization of medical devices by Staphylococcus epidermidis. The genes encoding PIA production are organized in the icaADBC (intercellular adhesion) operon. To study the function of the individual genes, we have established an in vitro assay with UDP-N-acetylglucosamine, the substrate for PIA biosynthesis, and analyzed the products by thin-layer chromatography and mass spectrometry. IcaA alone exhibited a low N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase activity and represents the catalytic enzyme. Coexpression of icaA with icaD led to a significant increase in activity. The newly identified icaD gene is located between icaA and icaB and overlaps both genes. N-Acetylglucosamine oligomers produced by IcaAD reached a maximal length of 20 residues. Only when icaA and icaD were expressed together with icaC were oligomer chains that react with PIA-specific antiserum synthesized. IcaA and IcaD are located in the cytoplasmic membrane, and IcaC also has all the structural features of an integral membrane protein. These results indicate a close interaction between IcaA, IcaD, and IcaC. Tunicamycin and bacitracin did not affect the in vitro synthesis of PIA intermediates or the complete PIA biosynthesis in vivo, suggesting that a undecaprenyl phosphate carrier is not involved. IcaAD represents a novel protein combination among ␤-glycosyltransferases.In recent years, Staphylococcus epidermidis has emerged as a frequent cause of nosocomial infections in association with indwelling medical devices such as intravascular catheters, cerebrospinal fluid shunts, prosthetic heart valves, prosthetic joints, artificial pacemakers, and chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis catheters (reviewed in Refs. 1 and 2). The virulence of S. epidermidis in these infections is thought to be based on its ability to colonize medical devices by forming a biofilm composed of multilayered cell clusters embedded in a slime matrix (3). As shown by electron microscopy studies, surface colonization takes place in two steps (4). The first step is primary adhesion of some bacteria, which is followed by proliferation of the cells to multilayered clusters. Factors reported to contribute to primary attachment of S. epidermidis cells to a polymer surface include unspecific hydrophobic interactions (5, 6), a capsular polysaccharide/adhesin (PS/A) (7, 8), proteinaceous cell-surface antigens (SSP-1 and SSP-2) (9, 10), and the autolysin AtlE identified by our group (11).A characteristic feature of the second phase of biofilm formation is intercellular adhesion, which results in the formation of large cell clusters by clinical S. epidermidis strains. This reaction is associated with the production of the polysaccharide intercellular adhesin (PIA) 1 located at the cell surface (12). PIA consists of two structurally related homoglycans, polysaccharides I and II, composed of at least 130 2-deoxy-2-amino-Dglucopyranosyl residues that are mostly (Ͼ80%) N-acetylated. The residues are ␤-1,6-linked (13), ...

A screening method was established to detect inhibitors of the biosynthetic pathways of aromatic amino acids and para-aminobenzoic acid, the precursor of folic acid, using an agar A successful search for novel antibacterial metabolites has to meet three criteria, first, a specific target which is essential for the metabolism of a bacterium and not yet provided with an known inhibitor. Second, a set of taxonomically characterized and dereplicated microorganisms as producers of secondary metabolites, and last but not least a lucky but experienced hand for strain isolation and cultivation. We have chosen the shikimate pathway as an essential target of bacterial metabolism, with special consideration of the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids and para-aminobenzoic (pAba) acid derived from the keymetabolite chorismate. Only a few antimetabolites are known as inhibitors of aromatic amino acids, such as L-2,5-dihydrophenylalanine2), an antagonist of phenlyalanine, and glyphosate that inhibits 3-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase3,4). To our knowledge, no natural product inhibitor of pAba biosynthesis has been described in the literature. This pathway, which is catalyzed by two enzymes, 4-amino-4-deoxychorismic acid (ADC) synthase and ADC lyase, seems to be of considerable interest for the development of novel antibiotics since it is directly linked to folic acid biosynthesis, which is established in plants, fungi, prokaryotes and parasites of the apicomplexa group (Plasmodium, Toxoplasma) but not in vertebrates.As suitable producers of bioactive metabolites we screened within the order Actinomycetales terrestrial and marine members of the families Streptomycetaceae and Micromonosporaceae and rare actinomycete genera. A total of 930 extracts derived from 201 actinomycetes were subjected to the screening. Among them, only AB-18-032, an extract from a marine isolate from a sediment collected from the Sea of Japan, was found to exhibit activity against

Seven complete genes and one incomplete gene for the biosynthesis of the glycopeptide antibiotic balhimycin were isolated from the producer, Amycolatopsis mediterranei DSM5908, by a reverse-cloning approach and characterized. Using oligonucleotides derived from glycosyltransferase sequences, a 900-bp glycosyltransferase gene fragment was amplified and used to identify a DNA fragment of 9,882 bp. Of the identified open reading frames, three (oxyA to -C) showed significant sequence similarities to cytochrome P450 monooxygenases and one (bhaA) showed similarities to halogenase, and the genesbgtfA to -C showed similarities to glycosyltransferases. Glycopeptide biosynthetic mutants were created by gene inactivation experiments eliminating oxygenase and glycosyltransferase functions. Inactivation of the oxygenase gene(s) resulted in a balhimycin mutant (SP1-1) which was not able to synthesize an antibiotically active compound. Structural analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, fragmentation studies, and amino acid analysis demonstrated that these oxygenases are involved in the coupling of the aromatic side chains of the unusual heptapeptide. Mutant strain HD1, created by inactivation of the glycosyltransferase gene bgtfB, produced at least four different compounds which were not glycosylated but still antibiotically active.

The agr quorum-sensing system is responsible for the regulation of several virulence factors in staphylococci, with an extracellular pheromone peptide as signalling molecule. By monitoring the biological activity of synthetic peptides, it could be demonstrated that the pheromone of the agr system in Staphylococcus epidermidis is an octapeptide containing a thiolester linkage between the central cysteine and the Cterminal carboxyl group. The peptide was active at nanomolar concentrations. The N-terminus of the peptide pheromone, which is encoded as part of a protein precursor, proved to be crucial for biological activity.z 1998 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.

The agr quorum-sensing system in Staphylococci controls the production of surface proteins and exoproteins. In the pathogenic species Staphylococcus aureus, these proteins include many virulence factors. The extracellular signal of the quorum-sensing system is a thiolactone-containing peptide pheromone, whose sequence varies among the different staphylococcal strains. We demonstrate that a synthetic Staphylococcus epidermidis pheromone is a competent inhibitor of the Staphylococcus aureus agr system. Derivatives of the pheromone, in which the N-terminus or the cyclic bond structure was changed, were synthesized and their biological activity was determined. The presence of a correct N-terminus and a thiolactone were absolute prerequisites for an agr-activating effect in S. epidermidis, whereas inhibition of the S. aureus agr system was less dependent on the original structure. Our results show that effective quorum-sensing blockers that suppress the expression of virulence factors in S. aureus can be designed based on the S. epidermidis pheromone.z 1999 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.

The avilamycin A biosynthetic gene cluster represents an interesting system to study the formation and attachment of unusual deoxysugars. Several enzymes putatively responsible for specific steps of this pathway could be assigned. Two genes encoding enzymes involved in post-PKS tailoring reactions were deleted allowing the production of new analogues of avilamycin A.