Article
Plant Sciences
Hu Zeng, Joy Birkelbach, Judith Hoffmann, Alexander Popoff, Carsten Volz, Rolf Mueller
Summary: Myxobacteria are a valuable source of natural products, and this study explores the biosynthetic potential of a truncated ajudazol biosynthetic gene cluster in Cystobacter sp. SBCb004. The researchers identified and isolated a set of novel ajudazols, which exhibit varying degrees of hydroxylation, desaturation, and glycosylation. The study also identified the enzymes responsible for these modifications, including two P450-dependent enzymes and one glycosyltransferase.
JOURNAL OF NATURAL PRODUCTS
(2022)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Li Tian, Shi Shi, Xiangmei Zhang, Fubo Han, Huijun Dong
Summary: Glycopeptide antibiotics (GPAs) are considered as the last resort for treating severe infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-positive pathogens. However, the increasing prevalence of Gram-positive resistant strain superbugs has posed a challenge, requiring further study and modification of GPAs.
WORLD JOURNAL OF MICROBIOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Wei Wang, S. Cyrus Khojasteh, Dian Su
Summary: This review discusses various emerging biosynthetic platforms for the synthesis of macrocyclic peptides, including mRNA display, ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs), and split-intein circular ligation of peptides and proteins (SICLOPPS). These platforms focus on improving the pharmacological properties and bioactivity of peptides through different methodologies, showcasing the broad spectrum of strategy classes and functionalities of macrocyclic peptides.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Peipei Zhao, Hairong Liu, Qinghua Wu, Qingzhou Meng, Kunyu Qu, Xin Yin, Mengmeng Wang, Xiangxiang Zhao, Jun Qi, Yiwei Meng, Xuekui Xia, Lixin Zhang
Summary: Chaetomium cochliodes SD-280 is a fungus with strong antibacterial activity, and its active compound chetomin exhibits potent bioactivity against MRSA. This study shows that the addition of glutathione (GSH) effectively increases chetomin production and provides insights into the biosynthetic pathway of chetomin, identifying key enzymes involved.
APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Adriana E. Galvan, Ngozi P. Paul, Jian Chen, Kunie Yoshinaga-Sakurai, Sagar M. Utturkar, Barry P. Rosen, Masafumi Yoshinaga
Summary: The soil bacterium Burkholderia gladioli GSRB05 produces the broad-spectrum antibiotic arsinothricin, with a biosynthetic gene cluster consisting of three genes identified. The biosynthesis and transport of arsinothricin only require three genes, in contrast to the over 20 genes needed for the phosphonate counterpart. This discovery may lead to the development of more effective organoarsenical antibiotics and shed light on the complexity of the arsenic biogeochemical cycle.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2021)
Review
Infectious Diseases
Mohammad Asyraf Adhwa Masimen, Noor Aniza Harun, M. Maulidiani, Wan Iryani Wan Ismail
Summary: Antibiotics are a medical miracle, but bacteria quickly develop resistance, leading to MRSA becoming one of the most prominent antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Antimicrobial peptides and silver nanoparticles are considered alternative treatments for MRSA due to their broad-spectrum properties and potential synergistic effects.
Article
Plant Sciences
Jieqian Kong, Chengshuang Huang, Yi Xiong, Baihuan Li, Wenping Kong, Wangyang Liu, Zhouke Tan, Dian Peng, Yanwen Duan, Xiangcheng Zhu
Summary: A study identified a Tripterygium wilfordii endophyte, Streptomyces sp. CB04723, that produces a highly reduced cytotoxic cinnamoyl lipid called tripmycin A. Structure-activity relationship studies showed that both the cinnamyl moiety and the saturated fatty acid side chain are crucial for the over 400-fold increase in cytotoxicity of 1 compared to 2 against the triple-negative breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231. Bioinformatical analysis, gene inactivation, and overexpression revealed that Hxs15 likely functions as an enoyl reductase and is involved in the side chain reduction of 1, providing new insights into the biosynthesis of cinnamoyl lipids.
JOURNAL OF NATURAL PRODUCTS
(2023)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Nikolas Eckert, Yuriy Rebets, Lilya Horbal, Josef Zapp, Jennifer Herrmann, Tobias Busche, Rolf Mueller, Joern Kalinowski, Andriy Luzhetskyy
Summary: By transcriptional gene cluster refactoring, the production of known pamamycins was enhanced and novel derivatives with promising biological activities were discovered. This approach has the potential for broader application in various biosynthetic gene clusters, creating a sustainable supply and discovery platform for bioactive natural products.
MICROBIAL CELL FACTORIES
(2023)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Paul M. D'Agostino
Summary: Cyanobacteria are known for their unique natural product scaffolds and play significant ecological roles in various symbiotic relationships. However, the lack of genomic data has limited the discovery of symbiotic cyanobacterial natural products, although recent advancements in (meta-)genomic sequencing have improved these efforts. This article highlights selected examples of symbiotic cyanobacterial-derived natural products and their biosynthetic pathways, as well as identifies gaps in knowledge regarding the formation of characteristic structural motifs. The continued rise of (meta-)genomic next-generation sequencing is expected to lead to exciting discoveries in the future.
NATURAL PRODUCT REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Zhe-Chong Wang, I-Wen Lo, Kuan-Hung Lin, An Ning Cheng, Saeid Malek Zadeh, Yen-Hua Huang, Tsung-Lin Li
Summary: This study elucidates the biosynthetic gene cluster of albofungin and the functions of two key genes, orfA and orfL, in vivo, revealing their roles in antimicrobial detoxification/resistance mechanisms.
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Chemistry, Medicinal
Linda Sukmarini
Summary: This article focuses on the recent discovery of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) from marine bacteria using genome mining and synthetic biology approaches. The biosynthetic studies are discussed, particularly the organization of targeted biosynthetic gene clusters associated with potential bioactivities of the encoded RiPPs.
Article
Microbiology
Darwin Linardi, Weiyi She, Qian Zhang, Yi Yu, Pei-Yuan Qian, Henry Lam
Summary: The study developed a high throughput proteomics-based method to complement genome mining methods for the identification of biosynthetic pathways in Streptomyces species.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Huy Xuan Luong, Hoa Doan Ngan, Hai Bui Thi Phuong, Thang Nguyen Quoc, Truong Thanh Tung
Summary: Conventional antibiotics have contributed significantly to global healthcare, but they have also led to the emergence of drug resistance. Host defence systems, particularly the expression of ribosomal antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), play a vital role in combating infectious diseases and addressing the antimicrobial resistance crisis.
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biology
Satria A. Kautsar, Justin J. J. van der Hooft, Dick de Ridder, Marnix H. Medema
Summary: BiG-SLiCE is a tool designed to cluster massive numbers of BGCs by representing them in Euclidean space to group BGCs into GCFs in a non-pairwise, near-linear fashion. It was used to analyze over 1.2 million BGCs collected from microbial genomes and metagenome-assembled genomes within 10 days. The tool offers a query mode to efficiently place newly sequenced BGCs into previously computed GCFs, along with a powerful output visualization engine for user-friendly data exploration.
Article
Microbiology
Hengqian Lu, Shuai Wang, Tiantian Gu, Liangyin Sun, Yongzhong Wang
Summary: In higher fungi, the alpha-aminoadipate (AAA) pathway is responsible for lysine biosynthesis. This study focused on the core gene in the AAA pathway, Aoaar, in the nematode-trapping fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora. Disruption of Aoaar affected the growth and nematocidal ability of A. oligospora, indicating its importance in the biological control of plant parasitic nematodes.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Javier Santos-Aberturas, Govind Chandra, Luca Frattaruolo, Rodney Lacret, Thu H. Pham, Natalia M. Vior, Tom H. Eyles, Andrew W. Truman
NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH
(2019)
Article
Microbiology
Yolanda Martinez-Burgo, Javier Santos-Aberturas, Antonio Rodriguez-Garcia, Eva G. Barreales, Jose Ruben Tormo, Andrew W. Truman, Fernando Reyes, Jesus F. Aparicio, Paloma Liras
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2019)
Editorial Material
Microbiology
Matthew I. Hutchings, Andrew W. Truman, Barrie Wilkinson
CURRENT OPINION IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2019)
Review
Microbiology
Matthew I. Hutchings, Andrew W. Truman, Barrie Wilkinson
CURRENT OPINION IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2019)
Article
Cell Biology
Luca Frattaruolo, Marco Fiorillo, Matteo Brindisi, Rosita Curcio, Vincenza Dolce, Rodney Lacret, Andrew W. Truman, Federica Sotgia, Michael P. Lisanti, Anna Rita Cappello
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Oleksandr Yushchuk, Bohdan Ostash, Andrew W. Truman, Flavia Marinelli, Victor Fedorenko
APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Allegra T. Aron, Emily C. Gentry, Kerry L. McPhail, Louis-Felix Nothias, Melissa Nothias-Esposito, Amina Bouslimani, Daniel Petras, Julia M. Gauglitz, Nicole Sikora, Fernando Vargas, Justin J. J. van Der Hooft, Madeleine Ernst, Kyo Bin Kang, Christine M. Aceves, Andres Mauricio Caraballo-Rodriguez, Irina Koester, Kelly C. Weldon, Samuel Bertrand, Catherine Roullier, Kunyang Sun, Richard M. Tehan, Cristopher A. Boya P, Martin H. Christian, Marcelino Gutierrez, Aldo Moreno Ulloa, Javier Andres Tejeda Mora, Randy Mojica-Flores, Johant Lakey-Beitia, Victor Vasquez-Chaves, Yilue Zhang, Angela Calderon, Nicole Tayler, Robert A. Keyzers, Fidele Tugizimana, Nombuso Ndlovu, Alexander A. Aksenov, Alan K. Jarmusch, Robin Schmid, Andrew W. Truman, Nuno Bandeira, Mingxun Wang, Pieter C. Dorrestein
Article
Microbiology
Natalia M. Vior, Eva Cea-Torrescassana, Tom H. Eyles, Govind Chandra, Andrew W. Truman
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Asfandyar Sikandar, Laura Franz, Sebastian Adam, Javier Santos-Aberturas, Liliya Horbal, Andriy Luzhetskyy, Andrew W. Truman, Olga Kalinina, Jesko Koehnke
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Oleksandr Yushchuk, Natalia M. Vior, Andres Andreo-Vidal, Francesca Berini, Christian Rueckert, Tobias Busche, Elisa Binda, Joern Kalinowski, Andrew W. Truman, Flavia Marinelli
Summary: The study describes a novel GPA producer Nonomuraea coxensis DSM 45129, which produces a GPA similar to A40926 but lacking a carboxyl group. By introducing the dbv29 factor, N. coxensis successfully produced A40926, demonstrating potential tools for GPA production. This work highlights genus Nonomuraea as an untapped source of novel GPAs.
ACS CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Oncology
Flaviu Bulat, Friederike Hesse, Bala Attili, Chandra Solanki, Iosif A. Mendichovszky, Franklin Aigbirhio, Finian J. Leeper, Kevin M. Brindle, Andre A. Neves
Summary: There is a clinical demand for imaging agents that can detect tumor cell death after treatment. We present a gallium-68-labeled derivative of Synaptotagmin-I for imaging tumor cell death using PET. Ga-68-C2Am could be a valuable tool for rapidly assessing tumor responses to treatment.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Alicia H. Russell, Natalia M. Vior, Edward S. Hems, Rodney Lacret, Andrew W. Truman
Summary: RiPPs are a structurally diverse class of natural products, and a new and diverse family of RiPP BGCs has been identified using the RiPPER tool, spanning over 230 species of Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. The discovery of a novel amidine-containing RiPP streptamidine from Streptomyces albidoflavus J1074 highlights the breadth of unexplored natural products with structurally rare features in these clusters.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Tom H. Eyles, Natalia M. Vior, Rodney Lacret, Andrew W. Truman
Summary: Thiostreptamide S4 is a thioamitide belonging to the RiPPs family, with complex structure and incompletely elucidated biosynthetic steps. By engineering the BGC, coupled with metabolomics and targeted mutations, the biosynthetic pathway was revealed, a critical protein was identified, and diverse RiPP-like BGCs were bioinformatically identified for future discovery and engineering.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Alaster D. Moffat, Adam Elliston, Nicola J. Patron, Andrew W. Truman, Jose A. Carrasco Lopez
Summary: Biofoundries integrate high-throughput software and hardware platforms with synthetic biology approaches to enable the design, execution, and analyses of large-scale experiments. In the field of molecular microbiology, biofoundries have demonstrated their ability to accelerate screening processes and identify the genetic basis of growth inhibition.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Laura Franz, Uli Kazmaier, Andrew W. Truman, Jesko Koehnke
Summary: This article covers the research on Bottromycins from the 1950s to the end of 2020, highlighting their promising antibacterial activity against clinically relevant multidrug-resistant pathogens. It discusses their unique structure and recent advances in total synthesis and understanding of biosynthesis.
NATURAL PRODUCT REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Alexander M. Prophet, Kritanjan Polley, Gary J. Van Berkel, David T. Limmer, Kevin R. Wilson
Summary: The oxidation kinetics of iodide by ozone at the air-water interface is studied in single microdroplets. Molecular simulations and kinetic modeling are used to understand the underlying multiphase mechanism.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Rong Zhang, Jiajing Lan, Fei Wang, Shumei Chen, Jian Zhang
Summary: By utilizing 1,1'-ferrocene dicarboxylic acid as a chelating and surface protection ligand, we have synthesized multi-nuclear indium oxide clusters with varying nuclear sizes, including heptanuclear and thirteen-nuclear clusters. These clusters possess labile coordination sites, allowing for structural modification and self-assembly, resulting in the formation of various cluster structures.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Hui Wang, Hui Liu, Mingsen Wang, Jiaheng Hou, Yongjun Li, Yuancheng Wang, Yingjie Zhao
Summary: Two supramolecular complexes were prepared using CBs and M1, and their single-crystal structures were analyzed by SCXRD. The unexpected 1:2 self-assembly structure between M1 and CB[8] was discovered for the first time. These complexes exhibit unique photophysical properties and provide valuable information about the structure and photophysical properties of supramolecular complexes.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Chang-Hee Lee, Sookil Park, Sanggil Kim, Ji Young Hyun, Hyun Soo Lee, Injae Shin
Summary: The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a cell-surface glycoprotein involved in cell proliferation and tumor development. This study used a fluorescently labeled EGFR to investigate its time-dependent endocytosis in live cells and found that appended glycans affect EGFR internalization. Additionally, the study detected sialic acid residues attached to EGFR on the live cell surface using FRET-based imaging. This research provides valuable insights into the cellular functions of EGFR.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Subhankar Sahu, Lokesh Kumar, Sumita Das, Dipti Gupta, Ruchi Anand
Summary: This study proposes a strategy that combines organic electronics with biosensor scaffolds to create a compact device for monitoring environmental aromatic pollution. By coupling biosensing protein MopR with an organic electrochemical transistor (OECT), a sensor module capable of efficient detection of phenol was designed. Exclusive phenol detection with minimal loss of sensitivity could be achieved in complex pollutant mixtures and real environmental samples.
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Changseok Lee, Hyung-Joon Kang, Sungwoo Hong
Summary: The formation of C-N bonds through hydroamination reactions catalyzed by nickel hydrides has been a topic of recent interest. This approach offers a way to efficiently transform a variety of alkene and alkyne substrates into compounds enriched with C-N bonds. The review provides a concise overview of the underlying reaction mechanisms and aims to stimulate further progress in NiH-catalytic techniques and catalyst design.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yueci Wu, Lu-Lu Sun, Hai-Hao Han, Xiao-Peng He, Weiguo Cao, Tony D. James
Summary: Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a common cause of acute liver failure in the USA and Europe, but most cases can be recovered or prevented by discontinuing the offending drug. Recent research has found that peroxynitrite (ONOO-) can be used as a potential indicator for early diagnosis of DILI, and there is an urgent need to establish a method to detect and track peroxynitrite in DILI cases. In this study, a FRET-based nano fluorescent probe CD-N-I was developed, which showed high selectivity and sensitivity in detecting peroxynitrite. The probe successfully detected exogenous peroxynitrite in live cells and endogenous peroxynitrite in APAP-induced liver injury of HepG2 cells.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Dmitry L. Lipilin, Mikhail O. Zubkov, Mikhail D. Kosobokov, Alexander D. Dilman
Summary: This article describes a direct photocatalytic method for the thiolation of unprotected acids, which was previously challenging. By using a thionocarbonate reagent with an N-O bond, the efficient conversion of carboxylic acids to thiols is achieved.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jason Malenfant, Lucille Kuster, Yohann Gagne, Kouassi Signo, Maxime Denis, Sylvain Canesi, Mathieu Frenette
Summary: Raman microscopy can reveal compound-specific vibrational fingerprints without sample preparation. The combination of efficient theoretical calculations and a user-friendly software can accurately predict peak positions and provide match scores to assist with structure determination.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jayoh A. Hernandez, Paul S. Micus, Sean Alec Lois Sunga, Luca Mazzei, Stefano Ciurli, Gabriele Meloni
Summary: Essential trace metals play crucial roles in the survival and virulence of bacterial pathogens. Helicobacter pylori requires nickel for colonization and persistence in the stomach, and NixA is an essential nickel transporter in this process. This study characterizes the selectivity and electrogenic nature of NixA-mediated nickel transport.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Tarali Devi, Kuheli Dutta, Jennifer Deutscher, Stefan Mebs, Uwe Kuhlmann, Michael Haumann, Beatrice Cula, Holger Dau, Peter Hildebrandt, Kallol Ray
Summary: This study emphasizes the importance of subtle electronic changes and secondary interactions in the stability of biologically relevant metal-dioxygen intermediates. It also shows that the role of the chloride ligand in stabilizing the Fe-III-(OOBu)-Bu-t moiety can extend to other anions, including the thiolate ligand.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jacqueline R. Santhouse, Jeremy M. G. Leung, Lillian T. Chong, W. Seth Horne
Summary: By studying the folding kinetics and mechanism of the BdpA sequence, researchers found that altering the backbone connectivity can affect protein folding. This suggests that protein mimetic chains have a significant degree of plasticity in transitioning between unfolded and folded states.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Divanshu Gupta, Ralf Einholz, Holger F. Bettinger
Summary: This study presents the first direct spectroscopic evidence of a cyclic seven-membered iminoborane. Compared to linear amino-iminoboranes, this cyclic iminoborane exhibits weakened bond strength and lower Lewis acidity value. The study suggests that the reduced ring strain of cyclic iminoborane prevents nitrogen fixation but allows facile (2 + 2) cycloaddition reaction with C2H4.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Renny Mathew, Aniruddha Mazumder, Praveen Kumar, Julie Matula, Sharmarke Mohamed, Petr Brazda, Mahesh Hariharan, Brijith Thomas
Summary: This study reveals the packing arrangement of partially disordered nitro-perylenediimide (NO2-PDI) using a synergistic approach that combines 3D ED, ssNMR, and DFT techniques. By overcoming these challenges, this methodology opens up new avenues for material characterization, driving exciting advancements in the field.
