Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis

Charting the biosynthetic landscape of hybrid polyketide-nonribosomal peptide-specialized lipids

The paper identifies and characterizes new hybrid peptide-polyketide-specialized lipid biosynthesis pathways in bacteria, revealing novel metabolites with functional properties.

Shared biosynthetic architectures generate diverse β-amino polyketide residues in cyanobacterial peptides

The paper links gene clusters in Floridanema to the production of β-amino polyketide residues, revealing shared biosynthetic architectures and evolutionary strategies.

The WormFood CURE: Screening for bioactive metabolites that antagonize the Caenorhabditis elegans Ras signaling pathway

The paper presents a CURE model that identifies bacterial isolates producing bioactive metabolites antagonizing the C. elegans Ras signaling pathway through phenotype suppression.

Antimicrobial activity of polymyxin A, and characterisation of the cognate biosynthetic gene cluster within the genome of the producing Paenibacillus polymyxa.

This study isolates a Paenibacillus polymyxa strain, characterizes its polymyxin A biosynthetic gene cluster, and finds that resistance genes mcr-1 and mcr-4 confer resistance to polymyxin A.

TMcin RiPP biosynthesis in the cellular membrane

This paper characterizes TMcin biosynthesis in the cell membrane, showing that all post-translational modifications occur there and revealing a new escort function for a membrane protein.

A multifunctional polyketide synthase in nematodes produces divergent families of signaling molecules that control different developmental arrests

This paper identifies a multifunctional PKS-NRPS hybrid in nematodes that produces diverse signaling molecules controlling different developmental arrests.

Defining the OrrA regulon and its role in development and antibiotic production in Streptomyces venezuelae NRRL B-65442

This study defines the OrrA regulon in Streptomyces venezuelae, showing it regulates sporulation and antibiotic production via WblA.

Structural and Spectroscopic Basis for Catalysis by a Class C Radical S-adenosylmethionine Methylase Involved in Nosiheptide/Nocathiacin Biosynthesis

This paper reports the structural and spectroscopic analysis of a class C radical SAM methylase involved in Nosiheptide biosynthesis, revealing key catalytic residues and radical mechanisms.

Large-scale investigation for antimicrobial activity reveals novel defensive species across the healthy skin microbiome

The paper investigates antimicrobial activity in the skin microbiome, identifies novel defensive species, and highlights dry skin sites as rich sources of bioactive metabolites.

Systematic assessment of the impact of targeted selection methods and environment-mimicking culture conditions on fungal natural product libraries

The paper assesses how fungal selection methods and environment-mimicking culture conditions affect the diversity of natural product libraries.

Conserved bacterial genes for biosynthesis of the algal morphogen thallusin span land and sea

The paper identifies conserved bacterial genes responsible for thallusin biosynthesis, a morphogen that influences algal development across marine and terrestrial environments.

MtrAB activates ectoine production and triggers sporulation in response to osmotic stress in Streptomyces venezuelae

This paper shows that MtrAB in Streptomyces venezuelae senses osmotic stress via sucrose, activates ectoine production, and triggers sporulation through direct regulation of bldM and whiI.

Heterologous expression of lyngbyatoxin biosynthetic genes in Aspergillus oryzae reveals transcriptional barriers but enables LtxC-mediated biotransformation

This study attempts to express cyanobacterial lyngbyatoxin biosynthetic genes in a fungal host, finding transcriptional barriers but functional downstream enzymes.

Biosynthesis, Structure, and Antibiotic Properties of Gelatinamin A, a Triculamin-like Lasso Peptide

This study reports the first NMR structure of a class V lasso peptide, gelatinamin A, and characterizes its biosynthesis and antibiotic properties.

Dimerization of MilM is essential for catalyzing the pyridoxal-5'-phosphate (PLP)-dependent Cγ-hydroxylation of L-arginine during mildiomycin biosynthesis

This paper investigates the dimerization and catalytic mechanism of MilM, a PLP-dependent enzyme involved in mildiomycin biosynthesis, revealing its role in substrate binding, catalysis, and product formation.

The Maculalactone Biosynthetic Gene Cluster, a Cryptic Furanolide Pathway Revealed in Nodularia sp. NIES-3585

The paper identifies and characterizes a cryptic furanolide biosynthetic gene cluster in Nodularia sp. NIES-3585, revealing structural diversity and substrate promiscuity of the enzymes involved.

UTILIZING SEQUENCE SIMILARITY NETWORKS FOR CROSS SPECIES ELICITOR IDENTIFICATION OF STREPTOMYCES REGULATORY PROTIENS

This paper uses sequence similarity networks to predict elicitors for TetR-family regulators in Streptomyces, identifying chloramphenicol-responsive homologs of JadR2.

Unified Genomic and Chemical Representations Enable Bidirectional Bio-synthetic Gene Cluster and Natural Product Retrieval

This paper introduces a multimodal framework that links biosynthetic gene clusters and natural products by integrating genomic and chemical data through shared embeddings, enabling bidirectional retrieval and strain selection.

Schizokinen siderophores in the methylotrophy model organism Methylorubrum extorquens AM1

This study investigates Methylorubrum extorquens AM1's ability to produce siderophore-like molecules for lanthanide acquisition, finding that it produces schizokinen siderophores that do not chelate lanthanides.

Inverse stable isotope labeling (InverSIL) links predicted catecholate siderophore gene clusters to their products in diverse bacteria

This paper introduces InverSIL, a method to link predicted siderophore gene clusters to their products in bacteria, revealing new siderophore structures and validating known ones.

Evidence supporting the first secondary chromosome in actinobacteria as a hallmark of the Embleya genus

The paper describes a new secondary chromosome, EEC1, in the Embleya genus, which is distinct from other secondary replicons and plays a key role in the genus' metabolism and evolution.

Discovery and biosynthesis of biffamycin A, a novel glycotetrapeptide antibiotic

The paper discovers and characterizes biffamycin A, a novel glycopeptide antibiotic from Streptomyces albidoflavus, highlighting its antimycobacterial and antistaphylococcal activity.

Molecular Basis for Asynchronous Chain Elongation During Rifamycin Antibiotic Biosynthesis

This paper investigates the biosynthetic mechanism of the rifamycin synthetase (RIFS) using crosslinking, kinetic, and structural analyses, revealing how C-terminal dimeric interfaces influence chain elongation asymmetry.

Development of a bioassay guided genome mining approach for antifungal natural product discovery from pseudomonads

The paper develops a bioassay-guided genome mining approach to identify antifungal natural products from pseudomonads that antagonize Zymoseptoria tritici.

Scan Cluster: A versatile database-independent prediction tool for multi-genome identification of homologous gene clusters.

Scan Cluster identifies homologous gene clusters across genomes without database constraints, showing high accuracy in detecting cluster boundaries and evolutionary changes.

Accelerating Natural Product Discovery with Linked MS-Genomics and Language/Transformer-Based Models

The paper integrates mass spectrometry and genomics data with language models to accelerate natural product discovery in microbial strains.

Structure of a Stand-Alone Homodimeric NRPS Condensation Domain Reveals Occlusion of the Canonical Carrier-Protein Interface

This study determines the structure of OaaC, a condensation domain involved in fatty acid amide biosynthesis, revealing how it occludes the ACP-binding site and is regulated by substrate-dependent oligomerization.

Discovery of the Phosphonate Flavophos Produced by Burkholderia

This study identifies a new phosphonate antibiotic, flavophos, produced by Burkholderia, which inhibits lumazine synthase and confers resistance when expressed in E. coli.

Cryptic starter amidation in antibiotic biosynthesis by trans-acyltransferase polyketide synthases

The paper reveals a cryptic amidation mechanism in gladiolin biosynthesis involving a trans-acyltransferase, ACP, and asparagine synthetase homolog.

Structure, biosynthesis, and bioactivity of nostolysamides

This study determines the structure, biosynthesis, and bioactivity of nostolysamides, a class II lanthipeptide from Nostoc punctiforme, showing antibacterial and antifungal activity through membrane disruption.