Discovery of a Mosaic-Like Biosynthetic Assembly Line with a Decarboxylative Off-Loading Mechanism through a Combination of Genome Mining and Imaging.

The biosynthetic gene cluster for the antiplasmodial natural product siphonazole was identified by using a combination of genome mining, imaging, and expression studies in the natural producer Herpetosiphon sp. B060. The siphonazole backbone is assembled from an unusual starter unit from the shikimate pathway that is extended by the action of polyketide synthases and non-ribosomal peptide synthetases with unusual domain structures, including several split modules and a large number of duplicated domains and domains predicted to be inactive. Product release proceeds through decarboxylation and dehydration independent of the thioesterase SphJ and yields the diene terminus of siphonazole. High variation in terms of codon-usage within the gene cluster, together with the dislocated domain organization, suggest a recent emergence in evolutionary terms.

An easy-to-perform photometric assay for methyltransferase activity measurements.

Methyltransferases (MTs) catalyze the transfer of a methyl group from S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) to a suitable substrate. Such methylations are important modifications in secondary metabolisms, especially on natural products produced by polyketide synthases and nonribosomal peptide synthetases, many of which are of special interest due to their prominent pharmacological activities (e.g., lovastatin, cyclosporin). To gain basic biochemical knowledge on the methylation process, it is of immense relevance to simplify methods concerning experimental problems caused by a large variety in substrates. Here, we present a photometric method to analyze MT activity by measuring SAM consumption in a coupled enzyme assay.

In vitro selection of ssDNA aptamers using biotinylated target proteins.

Aptamers are single-stranded nucleic acids that bind specifically to a target molecule and thus often inhibit target-associated biological functions. Aptamers have been described for a series of target molecules including peptides, proteins, and even living cells. Besides RNA and 20-modified RNA molecules also ssDNA molecules can be subjected to in vitro selection protocols aiming at the enrichment of ssDNA aptamers. ssDNA aptamers can be selected using the SELEX procedure (systematic enrichment of ligands by exponential amplification) from libraries of randomized single-stranded DNA with a diversity of up to 10(16) different molecules. In repetitive selection cycles, the library is incubated with the target of choice and separation of non-binding sequences from bound sequences is achieved by distinct separation methods. The bound molecules are specifically eluted and amplified, thus representing the starting library for the next cycle. Thereby, an enriched population of aptamers is evolved. Here we describe a generalized in vitro selection experiment aiming at the enrichment of ssDNA aptamers using biotinylated target molecules. This procedure allows the application of streptavidin-biotin chemistry to separate bound from unbound DNA species during the selection process.

Differential regulation of protein subdomain activity with caged bivalent ligands.

Subtle change: Spatiotemporal modulation of individual protein subdomains with light as the trigger signal becomes possible by using bivalent aptamers and introducing photolabile "caging groups" to switch individual aptamer modules ON or OFF differentially. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show that it is possible to modulate individual domain activity in aptamers, and thus also domain activity in proteins, with light.