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Robinson SL, Terlouw BR, Smith MD, Pidot SJ, Stinear TP, Medema MH, Wackett LP. Global analysis of adenylate-forming enzymes reveals β-lactone biosynthesis pathway in pathogenic Nocardia. J Biol Chem 2020; 295:14826-14839. [PMID: 32826316 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.ra120.013528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2020] [Revised: 08/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Enzymes that cleave ATP to activate carboxylic acids play essential roles in primary and secondary metabolism in all domains of life. Class I adenylate-forming enzymes share a conserved structural fold but act on a wide range of substrates to catalyze reactions involved in bioluminescence, nonribosomal peptide biosynthesis, fatty acid activation, and β-lactone formation. Despite their metabolic importance, the substrates and functions of the vast majority of adenylate-forming enzymes are unknown without tools available to accurately predict them. Given the crucial roles of adenylate-forming enzymes in biosynthesis, this also severely limits our ability to predict natural product structures from biosynthetic gene clusters. Here we used machine learning to predict adenylate-forming enzyme function and substrate specificity from protein sequences. We built a web-based predictive tool and used it to comprehensively map the biochemical diversity of adenylate-forming enzymes across >50,000 candidate biosynthetic gene clusters in bacterial, fungal, and plant genomes. Ancestral phylogenetic reconstruction and sequence similarity networking of enzymes from these clusters suggested divergent evolution of the adenylate-forming superfamily from a core enzyme scaffold most related to contemporary CoA ligases toward more specialized functions including β-lactone synthetases. Our classifier predicted β-lactone synthetases in uncharacterized biosynthetic gene clusters conserved in >90 different strains of Nocardia. To test our prediction, we purified a candidate β-lactone synthetase from Nocardia brasiliensis and reconstituted the biosynthetic pathway in vitro to link the gene cluster to the β-lactone natural product, nocardiolactone. We anticipate that our machine learning approach will aid in functional classification of enzymes and advance natural product discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serina L Robinson
- BioTechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Graduate Program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Minnesota, Rochester, Minnesota, USA; Graduate Program in Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
| | - Barbara R Terlouw
- Bioinformatics Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Megan D Smith
- BioTechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Graduate Program in Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Sacha J Pidot
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Doherty Institute, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Timothy P Stinear
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Doherty Institute, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Marnix H Medema
- Bioinformatics Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Lawrence P Wackett
- BioTechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Graduate Program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Minnesota, Rochester, Minnesota, USA; Graduate Program in Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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Jia H, Litschel T, Heymann M, Eto H, Franquelim HG, Schwille P. Shaping Giant Membrane Vesicles in 3D-Printed Protein Hydrogel Cages. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2020; 16:e1906259. [PMID: 32105403 DOI: 10.1002/smll.201906259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2019] [Revised: 01/30/2020] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Giant unilamellar phospholipid vesicles are attractive starting points for constructing minimal living cells from the bottom-up. Their membranes are compatible with many physiologically functional modules and act as selective barriers, while retaining a high morphological flexibility. However, their spherical shape renders them rather inappropriate to study phenomena that are based on distinct cell shape and polarity, such as cell division. Here, a microscale device based on 3D printed protein hydrogel is introduced to induce pH-stimulated reversible shape changes in trapped vesicles without compromising their free-standing membranes. Deformations of spheres to at least twice their aspect ratio, but also toward unusual quadratic or triangular shapes can be accomplished. Mechanical force induced by the cages to phase-separated membrane vesicles can lead to spontaneous shape deformations, from the recurrent formation of dumbbells with curved necks between domains to full budding of membrane domains as separate vesicles. Moreover, shape-tunable vesicles are particularly desirable when reconstituting geometry-sensitive protein networks, such as reaction-diffusion systems. In particular, vesicle shape changes allow to switch between different modes of self-organized protein oscillations within, and thus, to influence reaction networks directly by external mechanical cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haiyang Jia
- Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, Martinsried, D-82152, Germany
| | - Thomas Litschel
- Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, Martinsried, D-82152, Germany
| | - Michael Heymann
- Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, Martinsried, D-82152, Germany
| | - Hiromune Eto
- Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, Martinsried, D-82152, Germany
| | - Henri G Franquelim
- Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, Martinsried, D-82152, Germany
| | - Petra Schwille
- Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, Martinsried, D-82152, Germany
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Zhou S, Hao T, Xu S, Deng Y. Coenzyme A thioester-mediated carbon chain elongation as a paintbrush to draw colorful chemical compounds. Biotechnol Adv 2020; 43:107575. [PMID: 32512221 DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2020.107575] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2019] [Revised: 05/31/2020] [Accepted: 06/01/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
The biosynthesis of various useful chemicals from simple substrates using industrial microorganisms is becoming increasingly crucial to address the challenge of dwindling non-renewable resources. As the most common intermediate substrates in organisms, Coenzyme A (CoA) thioesters play a central role in the carbon chain elongation process of their products. As a result, numerous of chemicals can be synthesized by the iterative addition of various CoA thioester extender units at a given CoA thioester primer backbone. However, these elongation reactions and the product yields are still restricted due to the low enzymatic performance and supply of CoA thioesters. This review highlights the current protein and metabolic engineering strategies used to enhance the diversity and product yield by coupling different primers, extender units, enzymes, and termination pathways, in an attempt to provide a road map for producing a more diverse range of industrial chemicals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shenghu Zhou
- National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation Technology (NELCF), Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China; Jiangsu Provincial Research Center for Bioactive Product Processing Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
| | - Tingting Hao
- National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation Technology (NELCF), Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China; Jiangsu Provincial Research Center for Bioactive Product Processing Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
| | - Shumin Xu
- National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation Technology (NELCF), Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China; Jiangsu Provincial Research Center for Bioactive Product Processing Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
| | - Yu Deng
- National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation Technology (NELCF), Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China; Jiangsu Provincial Research Center for Bioactive Product Processing Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China.
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