Porous Fe3O4@COF-Immobilized gold nanoparticles with excellent catalytic performance for sensitive electrochemical detection of ATP.

Porous Fe3O4@COF-Immobilized gold nanoparticles with excellent catalytic performance for sensitive electrochemical detection of ATP

Graspetides are a class of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide natural products featuring ATP-grasp ligase-dependent formation of macrolactones/macrolactams. These modifications arise from serine, threonine, or lysine donor residues linked to aspartate or glutamate acceptor residues. Characterized graspetides include serine protease inhibitors such as the microviridins and plesiocin. Here, we report an update to Rapid ORF Description and Evaluation Online (RODEO) for the automated detection of graspetides, which identified 3,923 high-confidence graspetide biosynthetic gene clusters. Sequence and co-occurrence analyses doubled the number of graspetide groups from 12 to 24, defined based on core consensus sequence and putative secondary modification. Bioinformatic analyses of the ATP-grasp ligase superfamily suggest that extant graspetide synthetases diverged once from an ancestral ATP-grasp ligase and later evolved to introduce a variety of ring connectivities. Furthermore, we characterized thatisin and iso-thatisin, two graspetides related by conformational stereoisomerism from Lysobacter antibioticus. Derived from a newly identified graspetide group, thatisin and iso-thatisin feature two interlocking macrolactones with identical ring connectivity, as determined by a combination of tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS), methanolytic, and mutational analyses. NMR spectroscopy of thatisin revealed a cis conformation for a key proline residue, while molecular dynamics simulations, solvent-accessible surface area calculations, and partial methanolytic analysis coupled with MS/MS support a trans conformation for iso-thatisin at the same position. Overall, this work provides a comprehensive overview of the graspetide landscape, and the improved RODEO algorithm will accelerate future graspetide discoveries by enabling open-access analysis of existing and emerging genomes.

Bioinformatics-Guided Expansion and Discovery of Graspetides.

The ω-ester-containing peptides (OEPs) are a group of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs). The biosynthetic gene clusters of ω-ester-containing peptides commonly include ATP-grasp ligase coding genes and are distributed over the genomes of a wide variety of bacteria. A new biosynthetic gene cluster of ω-ester-containing peptides was found in the genome sequence of the marine proteobacterium Marinomonas fungiae. Heterologous production of a new tricyclic peptide named marinomonasin was accomplished using the biosynthetic gene cluster in Escherichia coli expression host strain BL21(DE3). By ESI-MS and NMR experiments, the structure of marinomonasin was determined to be a tricyclic peptide 18 amino acids in length with one ester and two isopeptide bonds in the molecule. The bridging patterns of the three intramolecular bonds were determined by the interpretation of HMBC and NOESY data. The bridging pattern of marinomonasin was unprecedented in the ω-ester-containing peptide group. The results indicated that the ATP-grasp ligase for the production of marinomonasin was a novel enzyme possessing bifunctional activity to form one ester and two isopeptide bonds. KEY POINTS: • New tricyclic peptide marinomonasin was heterologously produced in Escherichia coli. • Marinomonasin contained one ester and two isopeptide bonds in the molecule. • The bridging pattern of intramolecular bonds was novel.

Heterologous expression of a cryptic gene cluster from Marinomonas fungiae affords a novel tricyclic peptide marinomonasin

Genome mining for unknown–unknown natural products

Among the ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide (RiPP) natural products, "graspetides" (formerly known as microviridins) contain macrocyclic esters and amides that are formed by ATP-grasp ligase tailoring enzymes using the side chains of Asp/Glu as acceptors and Thr/Ser/Lys as donors. Graspetides exhibit diverse patterns of macrocylization and connectivities exemplified by microviridins, that have a caged tricyclic core, and thuringin and plesiocin that feature a "hairpin topology" with cross-strand ω-ester bonds. Here, we characterize chryseoviridin, a new type of multicore RiPP encoded by Chryseobacterium gregarium DS19109 (Phylum Bacteroidetes) and solve a 2.44 A resolution crystal structure of a quaternary complex consisting of the ATP-grasp ligase CdnC bound to ADP, a conserved leader peptide and a peptide substrate. HRMS/MS analyses show that chryseoviridin contains four consecutive five- or six-residue macrocycles ending with a microviridin-like core. The crystal structure captures respective subunits of the CdnC homodimer in the apo or substrate-bound state revealing a large conformational change in the B-domain upon substrate binding. A docked model of ATP places the γ-phosphate group within 2.8 A of the Asp acceptor residue. The orientation of the bound substrate is consistent with a model in which macrocyclization occurs in the N- to C-terminal direction for core peptides containing multiple Thr/Ser-to-Asp macrocycles. Using systematically varied sequences, we validate this model and identify two- or three-amino acid templating elements that flank the macrolactone and are required for enzyme activity in vitro. This work reveals the structural basis for ω-ester bond formation in RiPP biosynthesis.

Structural Basis for a Dual Function ATP Grasp Ligase That Installs Single and Bicyclic ω-Ester Macrocycles in a New Multicore RiPP Natural Product.

Genome-mining is an important tool for discovery of new natural products; however, the number of publicly available genomes for natural product-rich microbes such as Actinomycetes, relative to human pathogens with smaller genomes, is small. To obtain contiguous DNA assemblies and identify large (ca. 10 to greater than 100 Kb) biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) with high-GC (>70%) and -repeat content, it is necessary to use long-read sequencing methods when sequencing Actinomycete genomes. One of the hurdles to long-read sequencing is the higher cost. In the current study, we assessed Flongle, a recently launched platform by Oxford Nanopore Technologies, as a low-cost DNA sequencing option to obtain contiguous DNA assemblies and analyze BGCs. To make the workflow more cost-effective, we multiplexed up to four samples in a single Flongle sequencing experiment while expecting low-sequencing coverage per sample. We hypothesized that contiguous DNA assemblies might enable analysis of BGCs even at low sequencing depth. To assess the value of these assemblies, we collected high-resolution mass-spectrometry data and conducted a multi-omics analysis to connect BGCs to secondary metabolites. In total, we assembled genomes for 20 distinct strains across seven sequencing experiments. In each experiment, 50% of the bases were in reads longer than 10 Kb, which facilitated the assembly of reads into contigs with an average N50 value of 3.5 Mb. The programs antiSMASH and PRISM predicted 629 and 295 BGCs, respectively. We connected BGCs to metabolites for N,N-dimethyl cyclic-ditryptophan, a novel lassopeptide and three known Actinomycete-associated siderophores, namely mirubactin, heterobactin and salinichelin. ImportanceShort-read sequencing of GC-rich genomes such as Actinomycetes results in a fragmented genome assembly and truncated biosynthetic gene clusters (often 10 to >100 Kb long), which hinders our ability to understand the biosynthetic potential of a given strain and predict the molecules that can be produced. The current study demonstrates that contiguous DNA assemblies, suitable for analysis of BGCs, can be obtained through low-coverage, multiplexed sequencing on Flongle, which provides a new low-cost workflow ($30-40 per strain) for sequencing Actinomycete strain libraries.

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Genome-guided discovery of natural products through multiplexed low coverage whole-genome sequencing of soil Actinomycetes on Oxford Nanopore Flongle

Pyrazines (1,4-diazirines) are an important group of natural products that have tremendous monetary value in the food and fragrance industries and can exhibit a wide range of biological effects including antineoplastic, antidiabetic and antibiotic activities. As part of a project investigating the secondary metabolites present in understudied and chemically rich Actinomycetes, we isolated a series of six pyrazines from a soil-derived Lentzea sp. GA3-008, four of which are new. Here we describe the structures of lentzeacins A-E (1, 3, 5 and 6) along with two known analogues (2 and 4) and the porphyrin zincphyrin. The structures were determined by NMR spectroscopy and HR-ESI-MS. The suite of compounds present in Lentzea sp. includes 2,5-disubstituted pyrazines (compounds 2, 4, and 6) together with the new 2,6-disubstituted isomers (compounds 1, 3 and 5), a chemical class that is uncommon. We used long-read Nanopore sequencing to assemble a draft genome sequence of Lentzea sp. which revealed the presence of 40 biosynthetic gene clusters. Analysis of classical di-modular and single module non-ribosomal peptide synthase genes, and cyclic dipeptide synthases narrows down the possibilities for the biosynthesis of the pyrazines present in this strain.

Shannon I. Ohlemacher

Papers

Structural Basis for a Dual Function ATP Grasp Ligase That Installs Single and Bicyclic ω-Ester Macrocycles in a New Multicore RiPP Natural Product.

Genome-guided discovery of natural products through multiplexed low coverage whole-genome sequencing of soil Actinomycetes on Oxford Nanopore Flongle

Lentzeacins A-E, New Bacterial-Derived 2,5- and 2,6-Disubstituted Pyrazines from a BGC-Rich Soil Bacterium Lentzea sp. GA3-008