Reductive inactivation of the hemiaminal pharmacophore for resistance against tetrahydroisoquinoline antibiotics.

Antibiotic resistance is becoming one of the major crises, among which hydrolysis reaction is widely employed by bacteria to destroy the reactive pharmacophore. Correspondingly, antibiotic producer has canonically co-evolved this approach with the biosynthetic capability for self-resistance. Here we discover a self-defense strategy featuring with reductive inactivation of hemiaminal pharmacophore by short-chain dehydrogenases/reductases (SDRs) NapW and homW, which are integrated with the naphthyridinomycin biosynthetic pathway. We determine the crystal structure of NapW·NADPH complex and propose a catalytic mechanism by molecular dynamics simulation analysis. Additionally, a similar detoxification strategy is identified in the biosynthesis of saframycin A, another member of tetrahydroisoquinoline (THIQ) antibiotics. Remarkably, similar SDRs are widely spread in bacteria and able to inactive other THIQ members including the clinical anticancer drug, ET-743. These findings not only fill in the missing intracellular events of temporal-spatial shielding mode for cryptic self-resistance during THIQs biosynthesis, but also exhibit a sophisticated damage-control in secondary metabolism and general immunity toward this family of antibiotics.

Extracellularly oxidative activation and inactivation of matured prodrug for cryptic self-resistance in naphthyridinomycin biosynthesis.

Understanding how antibiotic-producing bacteria deal with highly reactive chemicals will ultimately guide therapeutic strategies to combat the increasing clinical resistance crisis. Here, we uncovered a distinctive self-defense strategy featured by a secreted oxidoreductase NapU to perform extracellularly oxidative activation and conditionally overoxidative inactivation of a matured prodrug in naphthyridinomycin (NDM) biosynthesis from Streptomyces lusitanus NRRL 8034. It was suggested that formation of NDM first involves a nonribosomal peptide synthetase assembly line to generate a prodrug. After exclusion and prodrug maturation, we identified a pharmacophore-inactivated intermediate, which required reactivation by NapU via oxidative C-H bond functionalization extracellularly to afford NDM. Beyond that, NapU could further oxidatively inactivate the NDM pharmacophore to avoid self-cytotoxicity if they coexist longer than necessary. This discovery represents an amalgamation of sophisticatedly temporal and spatial shielding mode conferring self-resistance in antibiotic biosynthesis from Gram-positive bacteria.

Catalysis of Extracellular Deamination by a FAD-Linked Oxidoreductase after Prodrug Maturation in the Biosynthesis of Saframycin†A.

The biosynthesis of antibiotics in bacteria is usually believed to be an intracellular process, at the end of which the matured compounds are exported outside the cells. The biosynthesis of saframycin A (SFM-A), an antitumor antibiotic, requires a cryptic fatty acyl chain to guide the construction of a pentacyclic tetrahydroisoquinoline scaffold; however, the follow-up deacylation and deamination steps remain unknown. Herein we demonstrate that SfmE, a membrane-bound peptidase, hydrolyzes the fatty acyl chain to release the amino group; and SfmCy2, a secreted oxidoreductase covalently associated with FAD, subsequently performs an oxidative deamination extracellularly. These results not only fill in the missing steps of SFM-A biosynthesis, but also reveal that a FAD-binding oxidoreductase catalyzes an unexpected deamination reaction through an unconventional extracellular pathway in Streptmyces bacteria.

Characterization of AvaR1, an autoregulator receptor that negatively controls avermectins production in a high avermectin-producing strain.

Many γ-butyrolactone-autoregulator receptors control the production of secondary metabolites in Streptomyces spp. Hence, AvaR1, an autoregulator receptor protein in Streptomyces avermitilis, was characterized as a negative regulator of avermectin (Ave) production. Deletion of AvaR1 in a high-producing strain increased production of Ave B1a approx. 1.75 times (~700 µg/ml) compared with the parent strain. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR and electrophoretic mobility shift assays revealed that AvaR1 regulates the biosynthesis of Ave but not through the aveR pathway-specific regulatory gene. A special signaling molecule, avenolide, increased production of Ave. This study has refined our understanding of how avenolide regulates the production of Aves which is promising for developing new methods to improve the production of antibiotics in industrial strains.

Naphthyridinomycin biosynthesis revealing the use of leader peptide to guide nonribosomal peptide assembly.

Analysis of naphthyridinomycin gene cluster revealed that this antibiotic is generated by nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) machinery. However, four modules encoded by two genes do not correspond with the structural units in the final product. Genetic and biochemical characterization of the gene cluster suggested that the leader peptide mechanism for the NRPS assembly line was involved in biosynthesis of this tetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloid.

Hijacking a hydroxyethyl unit from a central metabolic ketose into a nonribosomal peptide assembly line.

Nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) usually catalyze the biosynthesis of peptide natural products by sequential selection, activation, and condensation of amino acid precursors. It was reported that some fatty acids, α-ketoacids, and α-hydroxyacids originating from amino acid metabolism as well as polyketide-derived units can also be used by NRPS assembly lines as an alternative to amino acids. Ecteinascidin 743 (ET-743), naphthyridinomycin (NDM), and quinocarcin (QNC) are three important antitumor natural products belonging to the tetrahydroisoquinoline family. Although ET-743 has been approved as an anticancer drug, the origin of an identical two-carbon (C(2)) fragment among these three antibiotics has not been elucidated despite much effort in the biosynthetic research in the past 30 y. Here we report that two unexpected two-component transketolases (TKases), NapB/NapD in the NDM biosynthetic pathway and QncN/QncL in QNC biosynthesis, catalyze the transfer of a glycolaldehyde unit from ketose to the lipoyl group to yield the glycolicacyl lipoic acid intermediate and then transfer the C(2) unit to an acyl carrier protein (ACP) to form glycolicacyl-S-ACP as an extender unit for NRPS. Our results demonstrate a unique NRPS extender unit directly derived from ketose phosphates through (α,ß-dihydroxyethyl)-thiamin diphosphate and a lipoyl group-tethered ester intermediate catalyzed by the TKase-ACP platform in the context of NDM and QNC biosynthesis, all of which also highlights the biosynthesis of ET-743. This hybrid system and precursor are distinct from the previously described universal modes involving the NRPS machinery. They exemplify an alternate strategy in hybrid NRPS biochemistry and enrich the diversity of precursors for NRPS combinatorial biosynthesis.