Refining and expanding nonribosomal peptide synthetase function and mechanism

Matt McErlean, Jonathan Overbay, Steven Van Lanen

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

41 Scopus citations

Abstract

Nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) are involved in the biosynthesis of numerous peptide and peptide-like natural products that have been exploited in medicine, agriculture, and biotechnology, among other fields. As a consequence, there have been considerable efforts aimed at understanding how NRPSs orchestrate the assembly of these natural products. This review highlights several recent examples that continue to expand upon the fundamental knowledge of NRPS mechanism and includes (1) the discovery of new NRPS substrates and the mechanism by which these sometimes structurally complex substrates are made, (2) the characterization of new NRPS activities and domains that function during the process of peptide assembly, and (3) the various catalytic strategies that are utilized to release the NRPS product. These findings continue to strengthen the predictive power for connecting genes to products, thereby facilitating natural product discovery and development in the Genomics Era.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)493-513
Number of pages21
JournalJournal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology
Volume46
Issue number3-4
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 29 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology.

Funding

Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Kentucky). Natural product-inspired research in the Van Lanen laboratory is supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grants AI128862, AI087849, and CA217255. We appreciate the in depth discussions with Dr. Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova and Taylor Lundy (Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Kentucky). Natural product-inspired research in the Van Lanen laboratory is supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grants AI128862, AI087849, and CA217255.

FundersFunder number
National Institutes of Health (NIH)AI087849, AI128862
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
National Childhood Cancer Registry – National Cancer InstituteR01CA217255
National Childhood Cancer Registry – National Cancer Institute
University of Kentucky

    Keywords

    • Bioinformatics
    • Discovery
    • Domain
    • Mechanism
    • NRPS
    • Natural products

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General Medicine

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