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Cyclization of fungal nonribosomal peptides by a terminal condensation-like domain

Nature Chemical Biology volume 8, pages 823–830 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Cyclization of linear peptidyl precursors produced by nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) is an important step in the biosynthesis of bioactive cyclic peptides. Whereas bacterial NRPSs use thioesterase domains to perform the cyclization, fungal NRPSs have apparently evolved to use a different enzymatic route. In verified fungal NRPSs that produce macrocyclic peptides, each megasynthetase terminates with a condensation-like (CT) domain that may perform the macrocyclization reaction. To probe the role of such a CT domain, we reconstituted the activities of the Penicillium aethiopicum trimodular NPRS TqaA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and in vitro. Together with the reconstituted bimodular NRPS AnaPS, we dissected the cyclization steps of TqaA in transforming the linear anthranilate-D-tryptophan-L-alanyl tripeptide into fumiquinazoline F. Extensive biochemical and mutational studies confirmed the essential role of the CT domain in catalyzing cyclization in a thiolation domain–dependent fashion. Our work provides evidence of a likely universal macrocyclization strategy used by fungal NRPSs.

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Figure 1: Fungal NRPSs that terminate with a C-like domain.
Figure 2: Proposed cyclization mechanisms.
Figure 3: Characterization of TqaA and AnaPS.
Figure 4: The cyclization steps of TqaA and AnaPS.
Figure 5: Probing the possible TqaA CT domain cyclization mechanisms using analogs of the tripeptide 3.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported in part by the US National Institutes of Health Grant GM20011 (to C.T.W.), F32GM090475 (to B.D.A.) and 1R01GM092217 (to Y.T.). W. Xu (University of California–Los Angeles) is thanked for assistance with MALDI-TOF mass analysis and for providing both the ApdA and LovF ACP domains. Y.-T. Lai (University of California–Los Angeles) is thanked for assistance with gel filtration FPLC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California–Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Xue Gao, Peng Wang, Linda P Vien & Yi Tang

  2. Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Stuart W Haynes, Brian D Ames & Christopher T Walsh

  3. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California–Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Yi Tang

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  1. Xue Gao
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Contributions

X.G., S.W.H., C.T.W. and Y.T. developed the hypothesis and designed the study. S.W.H. performed the synthesis of all of the chemicals in this study. X.G. and P.W. performed molecular cloning. X.G., P.W. and L.P.V. performed the heterologous protein expression and purification. X.G. and B.D.A. performed in vitro and in vivo characterization of the megasynthases. All authors analyzed and discussed the results. X.G., C.T.W. and Y.T. prepared the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Christopher T Walsh or Yi Tang.

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Gao, X., Haynes, S., Ames, B. et al. Cyclization of fungal nonribosomal peptides by a terminal condensation-like domain. Nat Chem Biol 8, 823–830 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1047

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