台勾霉素生产菌指孢囊菌NRRL 18085遗传操作体系的建立

【目的】建立新型大环内酯类抗生素台勾霉素的生产菌指孢囊菌Dactylosporangium aurantiacum NRRL18085的遗传操作体系,实现台勾霉素相关生物合成基因的敲除突变。【方法】以整合型质粒pSET152为载体,建立了外源DNA通过接合转移进入指孢囊菌NRRL18085的操作方法和培养条件,利用PCR-targeting系统在体外构建了一个台勾霉素卤化酶基因敲除的cosmid质粒,通过接合转移转入到指孢囊菌NRRL18085野生菌中。【结果】获得了台勾霉素卤化酶基因敲除的指孢囊菌NRRL18085的双交换突变株,该突变株失去了产生台勾霉素的能力。【结论】成功建立和优化了指孢囊菌NRRL18085菌株的遗传操作体系,使得在体内分析和鉴定台勾霉素生物合成基因的功能成为可能,同时也为建立其他类似放线菌的遗传操作体系提供了参考。     

Improvement of hairy root cultures and plants by changing biosynthetic pathways leading to pharmaceutical metabolites: Strategies and applications

A plethora of bioactive plant metabolites has been explored for pharmaceutical, food chemistry and agricultural applications. The chemical synthesis of these structures is often difficult, so plants are favorably used as producers. While whole plants can serve as a source for secondary metabolites and can be also improved by metabolic engineering, more often cell or organ cultures of relevant plant species are of interest. It should be noted that only in few cases the production for commercial application in such cultures has been achieved. Their genetic manipulation is sometimes faster and the production of a specific metabolite is more reliable, because of less environmental influences. In addition, upscaling in bioreactors is nowadays possible for many of these cultures, so some are already used in industry. There are approaches to alter the profile of metabolites not only by using plant genes, but also by using bacterial genes encoding modifying enzymes. Also, strategies to cope with unwanted or even toxic compounds are available. The need for metabolic engineering of plant secondary metabolite pathways is increasing with the rising demand for (novel) compounds with new bioactive properties. Here, we give some examples of recent developments for the metabolic engineering of plants and organ cultures, which can be used in the production of metabolites with interesting properties.     

Conservation of the pyrrolnitrin biosynthetic gene cluster among six pyrrolnitrin-producing strains

The prnABCD gene cluster from Pseudomonas fluorescens encodes the biosynthetic pathway for pyrrolnitrin, a secondary metabolite derived from tryptophan which has strong anti-fungal activity. We used the prn genes from P. fluorescens strain BL915 as a probe to clone and sequence homologous genes from three other Pseudomonas strains, Burkholderia cepacia and Myxococcus fulvus. With the exception of the prnA gene from M. fulvus59% similar among the strains, indicating that the biochemical pathway for pyrrolnitrin biosynthesis is highly conserved. The prnA gene from M. fulvus is about 45% similar to prnA from the other strains and contains regions which are highly conserved among all six strains.     

Halogenation of aromatic compounds: thermodynamic, mechanistic and ecological aspects

Biological halogenation of aromatic compounds implies the generation of reducing equivalents in the form of e.g. NADH. Thermodynamic calculations show that coupling the halogenation step to a step in which the reducing equivalents are oxidized with a potent oxidant such as O₂ or N₂O makes the halogenation reaction thermodynamically feasible without the input of additional energy in the form of e.g. NADH. In a current model on the halogenation of tryptophan to 7-chloro-l-tryptophan NADH and O₂ are proposed as co-substrates in a reaction in which the aromatic compound is oxidized via an epoxide as intermediate. The thermodynamic calculations thus indicate that such a route hinges on mechanistic insights but has no thermodynamic necessity. Furthermore the calculations suggest that halogenation of tryptophan and other aromatic compounds should be possible with N₂O, and possibly even with nitrate replacing O₂ as the oxidant.     

Halogenase engineering and its utility in medicinal chemistry

Halogenation is commonly used in medicinal chemistry to improve the potency of pharmaceutical leads. While synthetic methods for halogenation present selectivity and reactivity challenges, halogenases have evolved over time to perform selective reactions under benign conditions. The optimization of halogenation biocatalysts has utilized enzyme evolution and structure-based engineering alongside biotransformation in a variety of systems to generate stable site-selective variants. The recent improvements in halogenase-catalyzed reactions has demonstrated the utility of these biocatalysts for industrial purposes, and their ability to achieve a broad substrate scope implies a synthetic tractability with increasing relevance in medicinal chemistry.     

Dynamics involved in catalysis by single-component and two-component flavin-dependent aromatic hydroxylases

Flavoprotein monooxygenases are involved in a wide variety of biological processes including drug detoxification, biodegradation of aromatic compounds in the environment, biosynthesis of antibiotics and siderophores, and many others. The reactions use NAD(P)H and O2 as co-substrates and insert one atom of oxygen into the substrate. The flavin-dependent monooxygenases utilize a general cycle in which NAD(P)H reduces the flavin, and the reduced flavin reacts with O2 to form a C4a-(hydro)peroxyflavin intermediate, which is the oxygenating agent. This complicated catalytic process has diverse requirements that are difficult to be satisfied by a single site. Two general strategies have evolved to satisfy these requirements. para-Hydroxybenzoate hydroxylase, the paradigm for the single-component flavoprotein monooxygenases, is one of the most thoroughly studied of all enzymes. This enzyme undergoes significant protein and flavin dynamics during catalysis. There is an open conformation that gives access of substrate and product to solvent, and a closed or in conformation for the reaction with oxygen and the hydroxylation to occur. This closed form prevents solvent from destabilizing the hydroperoxyflavin intermediate. Finally, there is an out conformation achieved by movement of the isoalloxazine toward the solvent, which exposes its N5 for hydride delivery from NAD(P)H. The protein coordinates these dynamic events during catalysis. The second strategy uses a reductase to catalyze the reduction of the flavin and an oxygenase that uses the reduced flavin as a substrate to react with oxygen and hydroxylate the organic substrate. These two-component systems must be able to transfer reduced flavin from the reductase to the oxygenase and stabilize a C4a-peroxyflavin until a substrate binds to be hydroxylated, all before flavin oxidation and release of H2O2. Again, protein dynamics are important for catalytic success.     

Theoretical investigation on the oxidative chlorination performed by a biomimetic non-heme iron catalyst

The present study is a part of an effort to understand the mechanism of the oxidative chlorination, as performed by a biomimetic non-heme iron complex. This catalytically active complex is generated from a peroxide and [(TPA)Fe^IIICl₂]⁺ [TPA is tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine]. The reaction catalyzed by [(TPA)FeCl₂]⁺/ROOH involves either [(TPA)ClFe^V=O]²⁺ or [(TPA)ClFe^IV=O]⁺ as an intermediate. On the basis of density functional theory the reaction of these two possible catalysts with cyclohexane is investigated. A question addressed is how the competing hydroxylation of the substrate is avoided. It is demonstrated that the high-valent iron complex [(TPA)Cl–Fe^V=O]²⁺ is capable of stereospecific alkane chlorination, based on an ionic rather than on a radical pathway. In contrast, the results found for [(TPA)ClFe^IV=O]⁺ cannot explain the experimental findings. In this case the transition states for chlorination and hydroxylation are energetically too close. The exclusive chlorination of the substrate by Cl–Fe^IV=O may be explained by an indirect or a direct effect, altering the position of the competing rebound barriers. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Heterocomplex structure of a polyketide synthase component involved in modular backbone halogenation

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