Microbiology articles within Nature Chemistry

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    An enzymatic reaction installs endogenous β-amino acids in proteins with unique reactivity. Now it has been shows that this reaction can be used for site-specific modification with tetrazine dienophiles to introduce labels onto target proteins. Applications include generation of a radiolabel chelator-modified Her2-binding Affibody and intracellular, fluorescently labelled cell division protein FtsZ.

    • Daniel Richter
    • , Edgars Lakis
    •  & Jörn Piel

  • Thesis |

    Winter brings a spike in mortality rates, but rather than simply having more parties to divert our attention, Bruce Gibb suggests that perhaps we should be looking to the misunderstood mushroom to give us a boost.

    • Bruce C. Gibb

  • Article |

    Creating hierarchical synthetic materials that can modulate microbial communities remains a great challenge due to the complex interactions between microbiota and their colonized environments. Now, a soil-inspired chemical system that responds to chemical, optical and mechanical stimuli has been developed. The soil-inspired chemical system can enhance microbial cultures and biofuel production, enrich gut bacterial diversity and alleviate ulcerative colitis symptoms.

    • Yiliang Lin
    • , Xiang Gao
    •  & Bozhi Tian

  • Article |

    In silico chemical prediction of a polyketide synthase gene cluster in the bacterium Gynuella sunshinyii has led to the discovery of a class of natural products called janustatins. The absolute configuration of the stereocentres in these compounds was determined by a combination of techniques including DFT calculations and 2D NMR experiments—and finally confirmed by total synthesis. Janustatins were found to cause delayed, synchronized cell death at subnanomolar concentrations.

    • Reiko Ueoka
    • , Philipp Sondermann
    •  & Jörn Piel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Entomopathogenic nematodes carrying Xenorhabdus and Photorhabdus bacteria prey on insect larvae in the soil. Now, a comprehensive analysis of the bacterial genome has revealed ubiquitous and unique families of biosynthetic gene clusters. Evaluation of the bioactivity of the natural products expressed by the most prevalent cluster families explains the functional basis of bacterial natural products involved in bacteria–nematode–insect interactions.

    • Yi-Ming Shi
    • , Merle Hirschmann
    •  & Helge B. Bode

  • Article |

    Polyether ionophores are natural products that display antibacterial activity—but they also show activity against mammalian cells, which has limited their development as clinical antibiotics. Now, a semisynthesis principle of recycling substructures from highly abundant natural polyether ionophores has been used to prepare analogues with enhanced selectivity towards bacterial cells.

    • Shaoquan Lin
    • , Han Liu
    •  & Thomas B. Poulsen

  • Article |

    Oxygen is a potent inhibitor of radical polymerization reactions, but the facultative bacterium Shewanella oneidensis has now been shown to facilitate aerobic radical polymerizations by first consuming dissolved oxygen and then directing extracellular electron flux to a metal catalyst. Aerobic polymerization activity is dependent on the S. oneidensis genotype and can be initiated using lyophilized or spent cells.

    • Gang Fan
    • , Austin J. Graham
    •  & Benjamin K. Keitz

  • Article |

    Colibactin is produced by human enterobacteria and assumed to be a gut bacterial genotoxin. Now, colibactin-645 has been identified as a macrocyclic colibactin metabolite that contains a C-terminal 5-hydroxy-4-oxazolecarboxylic acid moiety and induces DNA double-strand breaks in vitro and in human cell cultures via a unique copper-mediated oxidative mechanism.

    • Zhong-Rui Li
    • , Jie Li
    •  & Pei-Yuan Qian

  • Article |

    Polytheonamides are potently cytotoxic hypermodified ribosomal peptides that are produced by an uncultivated bacterium. Now, a bioinformatic mining strategy has enabled the development of a bacterial production host that can be cultivated in a laboratory. The host generates polytheonamide-like compounds within 2 days, and can efficiently introduce multiple d-amino acids, asparagine N-methylations and C-methyl groups into various peptides.

    • Agneya Bhushan
    • , Peter J. Egli
    •  & Jörn Piel

  • Article |

    Bacteria communicate through excretion of minute amounts of chemical signalling molecules that affect virulence, biofilm formation and colonization. In staphylococci, these molecules, called autoinducing peptides, are macrocyclic thiolactone-containing peptides. Now, a simple enrichment method, based on chemoselective capture on polymer beads, has been developed that enables the identification of previously unknown autoinducing peptides.

    • Bengt H. Gless
    • , Martin S. Bojer
    •  & Christian A. Olsen

  • Article |

    Biosynthesis of peptidoglycan requires carefully orchestrated transpeptidation reactions to maintain the structural integrity of this essential component of the bacterial cell wall. Now, rotor-fluorescent d-amino acids have been shown to enable real-time tracking of these transpeptidation reactions in live bacterial cells. These powerful tools allow visualization of peptidoglycan biosynthesis with high spatiotemporal resolution.

    • Yen-Pang Hsu
    • , Edward Hall
    •  & Michael S. VanNieuwenhze

  • Article |

    An effective antiviral against the common cold could prevent exacerbations in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but the diversity and adaptability of the virus makes it a highly challenging target. Now, picomolar inhibitors of a human lipid transferase have been developed. Targeting this human lipid transferase could provide an effective and broad-spectrum approach to block viral replication in the host.

    • Aurélie Mousnier
    • , Andrew S. Bell
    •  & Edward W. Tate

  • Article |

    Polytheonamides are giant peptide toxins produced by the uncultivated sponge bacterium Entotheonella factor. The biosynthesis of polytheonamides involves up to 50 post-translational modifications. Now, heterologous expression in Escherichia coli and Rhizobium hosts have shown that a minimalistic, iterative enzyme set introduces this exceptional molecular complexity via epimerizations, C-/N-methylations, hydroxylations, dehydration and proteolytic maturation.

    • Michael F. Freeman
    • , Maximilian J. Helf
    •  & Jörn Piel

  • Article |

    The stability of the capsid of a virus is strongly affected by its genome. Here the interplay between capsid and genome is explored using native mass spectrometry and atomic force microscopy. A mechanism is proposed to explain how the genome of the Triatoma virus stabilizes the capsid at neutral pH, but triggers disassembly under alkaline conditions.

    • J. Snijder
    • , C. Uetrecht
    •  & W. H. Roos

  • News & Views |

    Many of us eat mushrooms, but few of us have probably ever thought about — let alone witnessed — the epic battle of kingdoms that can occur between this delicacy and its bacterial pathogens. Now, imaging mass spectrometry has enabled the identification of a bacterium's potent antifungal weapon of choice.

    • Laura M. Sanchez
    •  & Pieter C. Dorrestein

  • News & Views |

    The combination of addressable synthetic macromolecules with proteins of precise structure and function often leads to materials with unique properties, as is now shown by the efficient multi-site initiation of polymer growth inside the cavity of a virus capsid.

    • Jeroen J. L. M. Cornelissen

  • Article |

    Selective modifications of structurally complex molecules bearing multiple reactive functional groups often require cumbersome multistep synthetic efforts. Here, aptameric protective groups based on short RNA sequences are described — they bind to neamine antibiotics, simultaneously protecting several functionalities and enabling regio- and chemoselective functionalizations.

    • Andreas A. Bastian
    • , Alessio Marcozzi
    •  & Andreas Herrmann

  • Article |

    Marinomycin A is a member of a new class of bis-salicylate-containing polyene macrodiolide, with potent antibiotic activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREF). Here, a triply convergent synthesis of this agent is described that uses the salicylate moiety as a novel molecular switch for the chemoselective construction of the macrodiolide.

    • P. Andrew Evans
    • , Mu-Hua Huang
    •  & Sergio Maroto

  • News & Views |

    The tunicamycins, secondary metabolites of various Streptomyces species, are invaluable tools in glycobiology. It has now been shown that their biosynthesis involves an unusual exo-glycal intermediate produced by previously unknown short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase activity.

    • Ethan D. Goddard-Borger
    •  & Stephen G. Withers

  • Article |

    Construction of the remarkable 11-carbon frame of the antibiotic tunicamycin is shown to use cyclic enol ethers (exo-glycals) — the first time such intermediates have been seen in biology. Exo-glycal synthase TunA uses an elegantly subtle mechanism to control regioselectivity and with exo-glycal epimerase TunF sets a logical chemical stage for downstream radical C–C coupling.

    • Filip J. Wyszynski
    • , Seung Seo Lee
    •  & Benjamin G. Davis

  • Article |

    Macromolecules with antimicrobial properties are promising materials for combating multi-drug-resistant microbes. Now, it has been shown that amphiphilic cationic polycarbonates that are biodegradable can self-assemble into micellar nanoparticles that can kill gram-positive bacteria, MRSA and fungi efficiently, even at low concentrations. Moreover, no significant toxicity is observed during in vivo studies in mice.

    • Fredrik Nederberg
    • , Ying Zhang
    •  & Yi-Yan Yang

  • Article |

    Marine bacteria and algae engage in intermittent symbioses mediated by unknown molecular signals. Here, it is shown that a chemical signal, p-coumaric acid, produced by the breakdown of algal lignin, causes the usually symbiotic bacterium Phaeobacter gallaeciensis to produce new metabolites (the roseobacticides) with potent but selective algaecidal activity.

    • Mohammad R. Seyedsayamdost
    • , Rebecca J. Case
    •  & Jon Clardy

  • Article |

    Although most proteins fulfil their role as part of large protein complexes, little is known about the pathways of complex assembly. Here, ion mobility–mass spectrometry is used to monitor and structurally characterize the assembly intermediates of viral protein shells, called capsids, of two major human pathogens, norovirus and hepatitis B virus.

    • Charlotte Uetrecht
    • , Ioana M. Barbu
    •  & Albert J. R. Heck

  • Article |

    The structural diversity of natural products offers great potential for the identification of new drugs. Here, the gene cluster responsible for the production of a meroterpenoid, pyripyropene, has been identified, and reconstitution of the biosynthetic sequence involved allows the production of analogous synthetic structures with potentially new bioactivity.

    • Takayuki Itoh
    • , Kinya Tokunaga
    •  & Tetsuo Kushiro

Browse broader subjects

Browse narrower subjects

Browse Microbiology across other nature.com journals