Biosynthesis of tetrapetalones

Discovery and Heterologous Production of Tetrapetalones Provide Insights into the Formation of the Tetracyclic System

Tetrapetalones make up a unique class of pentaketide ansamycins that feature a tetracyclic skeleton and exhibit potent inhibitory activities against soybean lipoxygenase. However, a detailed biosynthetic route to tetrapetalones has not been published. Herein we report the activation of the tetrapetalones' biosynthetic gene cluster (tpt) in Streptomyces sp. S10 by promoter engineering along with constitutive expression of pathway-specific regulator genes, leading to the discovery of seven new derivatives, tetrapetalones E-K (2-8), and the known tetrapetalone A (1). In vivo gene deletion experiments and heterologous expression of the minimized tpt cluster in Streptomyces albus J1074 suggest that the tetracyclic system of tetrapetalones is probably formed spontaneously, and the regioselective glycosylation of tetrapetalones at the C-9 hydroxy group with d-rhamnose or d-rhodinose was catalyzed by the glycosyltransferase Tpt14.

Human-associated bacteria adopt an unusual route for synthesizing 3-acetylated tetramates for environmental adaptation

BACKGROUND

Tetramates or tetramic acid-containing compounds (TACs) are a group of bioactive natural products featuring a pyrrolidine-2,4-dione ring acknowledged being closed via Dieckmann cyclization. The cariogenic Streptococcus mutans strains bearing a muc biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) can synthesize mutanocyclin (MUC), a 3-acetylated TAC that can inhibit both leukocyte chemotaxis and filamentous development in Candida albicans. Some strains can also accumulate reutericyclins (RTCs), the intermediates of MUC biosynthesis with antibacterial activities. However, the formation mechanism of the pyrrolidine-2,4-dione ring of MUC and the distribution of muc-like BGCs along with their ecological functions has not been explored extensively.

RESULTS

We demonstrated that a key intermediate of MUC biosynthesis, M-307, is installed by a hybrid nonribosomal peptide synthetase-polyketide synthase assembly line and its pyrrolidine-2,4-dione ring is closed via an unprecedented lactam bond formation style. Subsequent C-3 acetylation will convert M-307 to RTCs, which is then hydrolyzed by a deacylase, MucF, to remove the N-1 fatty acyl appendage to generate MUC. Distribution analysis showed that the muc-like BGCs distribute predominantly in human-associated bacteria. Interestingly, most of the muc-like BGCs possessing a mucF gene were isolated from human or livestock directly, indicating their involvement in alleviating the host's immune attacks by synthesizing MUC; while those BGCs lacking mucF gene distribute mainly in bacteria from fermented products, suggesting that they tend to synthesize RTCs to compete with neighboring bacteria. It is noteworthy that many bacteria in the same habitats (e.g., the oral cavity) lack the muc-like BGC, but possess functional MucF homologues to "detoxify" RTCs to MUC, including several competitive bacteria of S. mutans. We also comparably studied the distribution of TAS1, a fungal enzyme responsible for the production of phytotoxic tenuazonic acids (TeAs), a class of 3-acetylated TACs with similar structure but distinct biosynthetic mechanism to MUC, and found that it mainly exists in plants or crops.

CONCLUSIONS

The in vivo and in vitro experiments revealed that the pyrrolidine-2,4-dione ring of MUC is closed via lactam bond formation, which may be adopted by many TACs without 3-acyl decorations. Besides, we found that muc-like BGCs are widespread in human-associated bacteria and their shapes and main products can be influenced by the habitat environment and vice versa. By comparing with TeAs, we provided thought-provoking insights into how ecological and evolutionary forces drive bacteria and fungi to construct a common 3-acetylated pyrrolidine-2,4-dione core through different routes, and how the biosynthetic processes are delicately controlled to generate diverse 3-acetylated TACs for environmental adaptation. Video Abstract.

Pd-Catalyzed asymmetric [5 + 2] cycloaddition of vinylethylene carbonates and cyclic imines: access to N-fused 1,3-oxazepines

A facile route to access enantioenriched N-fused 1,3-oxazepines via Pd-catalyzed asymmetric [5 + 2] cycloaddition of vinylethylene carbonates and cyclic imines has been developed.

Studies toward the AB ring system of the tetrapetalone natural products

Synthetic efforts toward the rapid assembly of the AB ring system of the tetrapetalones is described. Key to this work was the use of [3+2] cycloaddition/oxidative extrusion methodology to furnish functionalized aryl enones. The Nazarov cyclization of these substrates was examined, and optimized to generate the AB ring carbon skeleton. Then, Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling were conducted, and conditions were identified that enabled installation of the requisite C14-N bond.