Norine: update of the nonribosomal peptide resource

Isolation, Characterization, and Bioherbicidal Potential of the 16-Residue Peptaibols from Emericellopsis sp. XJ1056

Eco-friendly bioherbicides are urgently needed for managing the problematic weed Amaranthus retroflexus. A mass spectrometry- and bioassay-guided screening approach was employed to identify phytotoxic secondary metabolites from fungi for the development of such bioherbicides. This effort led to the discovery of six phytotoxic 16-residue peptaibols, including five new compounds (2-6) and a known congener (1), from Emericellopsis sp. XJ1056. Their planar structures were elucidated through the analysis of tandem mass and NMR spectroscopic data. The absolute configurations of the chiral amino acids were determined by advanced Marfey's method and chiral-phase liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis. Bioinformatic analysis and targeted gene disruption identified the biosynthetic gene cluster for these peptaibols. Compounds 1 and 2 significantly inhibited the radicle growth of A. retroflexus seedlings, and 1 demonstrated potent postemergence herbicidal activity against A. retroflexus while exhibiting minimal toxicity to Sorghum bicolor. Structure-activity relationship analysis underscored the importance of trans-4-hydroxy-l-prolines at both the 10th and 13th positions for the herbicidal activities of these peptaibols.

Controlling Substrate- and Stereospecificity of Condensation Domains in Nonribosomal Peptide Synthetases

Nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) are sophisticated molecular machines that biosynthesize peptide drugs. In attempts to generate new bioactive compounds, some parts of NRPSs have been successfully manipulated, but especially the influence of condensation (C-)domains on substrate specificity remains enigmatic and poorly controlled. To understand the influence of C-domains on substrate preference, we extensively evaluated the peptide formation of C-domain mutants in a bimodular NRPS system. Thus, we identified three key mutations that govern the preference for stereoconfiguration and side-chain identity. These mutations show similar effects in three different C-domains (GrsB1, TycB1, and SrfAC) when di- or pentapeptides are synthesized in vitro or in vivo. Strikingly, mutation E386L allows the stereopreference to be switched from d- to l-configured donor substrates. Our findings provide valuable insights into how cryptic specificity filters in C-domains can be re-engineered to clear roadblocks for NRPS engineering and enable the production of novel bioactive compounds.

Current technology and industrialization status of cell-cultivated meat

Interest and investment in cultivated meat are increasing because of the realization that it can effectively supply sufficient food resources and reduce the use of livestock. Nevertheless, accurate information on the specific technologies used for cultivated meat production and the characteristics of cultivated meat is lacking. Authorization for the use of cultivated meat is already underway in the United States, Singapore, and Israel, and other major countries are also expected to approve cultivated meat as food once the details of the intricate process of producing cultivated meat, which encompasses stages such as cell proliferation, differentiation, maturation, and assembly, is thoroughly established. The development and standardization of mass production processes and safety evaluations must precede the industrialization and use of cultivated meat as food. However, the technology for the industrialization of cultivated meat is still in its nascent stage, and the mass production process has not yet been established. The mass production process of cultivated meat may not be easy to disclose because it is related to the interests of several companies or research teams. However, the overall research flow shows that equipment development for mass production and cell acquisition, proliferation, and differentiation, as well as for three-dimensional production supports and bioreactors have not yet been completed. Therefore, additional research on the mass production process and safety of cultivated meat is essential. The consumer's trust in the cultivated meat products and production technologies recently disclosed by some companies should also be analyzed and considered for guiding future developments in this industry. Furthermore, close monitoring by academia and the government will be necessary to identify fraud in the cultivated meat industry.

Biosynthetic gene cluster profiling from North Java Sea Virgibacillus salarius reveals hidden potential metabolites

Virgibacillus salarius 19.PP.SC1.6 is a coral symbiont isolated from Indonesia's North Java Sea; it has the ability to produce secondary metabolites that provide survival advantages and biological functions, such as ectoine, which is synthesized by an ectoine gene cluster. Apart from being an osmoprotectant for bacteria, ectoine is also known as a chemical chaperone with numerous biological activities such as maintaining protein stability, which makes ectoine in high demand in the market industry and makes it beneficial to investigate V. salarius ectoine. However, there has been no research on genome-based secondary metabolite and ectoine gene cluster characterization from Indonesian marine V. salarius. In this study, we performed a genomic analysis and ectoine identification of V. salarius. A high-quality draft genome with total size of 4.45 Mb and 4426 coding sequence (CDS) was characterized and then mapped into the Cluster of Orthologous Groups (COG) category. The genus Virgibacillus has an "open" pangenome type with total of 18 genomic islands inside the V. salarius 19.PP.SC1.6 genome. There were seven clusters of secondary metabolite-producing genes found, with a total of 80 genes classified as NRPS, PKS (type III), terpenes, and ectoine biosynthetic related genes. The ectoine gene cluster forms one operon consists of ectABC gene with 2190 bp gene cluster length, and is successfully characterized. The presence of ectoine in V. salarius was confirmed using UPLC-MS/MS operated in Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) mode, which indicates that V. salarius has an intact ectoine gene clusters and is capable of producing ectoine as compatible solutes.

Artificial intelligence for natural product drug discovery

Developments in computational omics technologies have provided new means to access the hidden diversity of natural products, unearthing new potential for drug discovery. In parallel, artificial intelligence approaches such as machine learning have led to exciting developments in the computational drug design field, facilitating biological activity prediction and de novo drug design for molecular targets of interest. Here, we describe current and future synergies between these developments to effectively identify drug candidates from the plethora of molecules produced by nature. We also discuss how to address key challenges in realizing the potential of these synergies, such as the need for high-quality datasets to train deep learning algorithms and appropriate strategies for algorithm validation.

Bioinformatic Analysis Reveals both Oversampled and Underexplored Biosynthetic Diversity in Nonribosomal Peptides

The traditional natural product discovery approach has accessed only a fraction of the chemical diversity in nature. The use of bioinformatic tools to interpret the instructions encoded in microbial biosynthetic genes has the potential to circumvent the existing methodological bottlenecks and greatly expand the scope of discovery. Structural prediction algorithms for nonribosomal peptides (NRPs), the largest family of microbial natural products, lie at the heart of this new approach. To understand the scope and limitation of the existing prediction algorithms, we evaluated their performances on NRP synthetase biosynthetic gene clusters. Our systematic analysis shows that the NRP biosynthetic landscape is uneven. Phenylglycine and its derivatives as a group of NRP building blocks (BBs), for example, have been oversampled, reflecting an extensive historical interest in the glycopeptide antibiotics family. In contrast, the benzoyl BB, including 2,3-dihydroxybenzoate (DHB), has been the most underexplored, hinting at the possibility of a reservoir of as yet unknown DHB containing NRPs with functional roles other than a siderophore. Our results also suggest that there is still vast unexplored biosynthetic diversity in nature, and the analysis presented herein shall help guide and strategize future natural product discovery campaigns. We also discuss possible ways bioinformaticians and biochemists could work together to improve the existing prediction algorithms.

Norine: Bioinformatics Methods and Tools for the Characterization of Newly Discovered Nonribosomal Peptides

In this chapter, we present Norine ( https://norine.univ-lille.fr/norine ), the unique resource dedicated to nonribosomal peptides. First, the content of the knowledgebase and the related tools are described. Then, a study case shows how to query Norine by annotations or structure and how to interpret the obtained results.

Oxidation of l-leucine amino acid initiated by hydroxyl radical: are transition metal ions an enhancement factor?

Hydroxyl radical (HO·) formation initiated by the Fenton-type reactions of Fe and Cu complexes of l-leucine (Leu) amino acid as well as its oxidation reaction by HO· was computationally investigated by using the density functional theory method at the M05-2X/6-311++G(3df,2pd)//M05-2X/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory in the aqueous phase. The results showed that dipole-salt is the main form of Leu in the physiological condition. Leu exhibits high chelating potential towards both Fe(III)/Fe(II) and Cu(II)/Cu(I) ions with the most favourable coordinating positions at two oxygen atoms of the -COO functional group. Furthermore, the Leu-ions complexes show a high risk of HO· formation via Fenton-like reactions, especially when ascorbate anion exists in the environment as a reducing agent. Finally, the oxidation reaction of l-leucine by HO· demonstrated a relatively high overall apparent reaction rate, k _overall, being 1.18 × 10⁹ M^-1 s^-1, in which formal hydrogen transfer reactions of the dipole-salt form occur as the primary mechanism. Consequently, the Leu oxidation by HO· radical can be promoted by the Fenton reaction enhancement of its transition metal complexes.

How to Completely Squeeze a Fungus-Advanced Genome Mining Tools for Novel Bioactive Substances

Fungal species have the capability of producing an overwhelming diversity of bioactive substances that can have beneficial but also detrimental effects on human health. These so-called secondary metabolites naturally serve as antimicrobial "weapon systems", signaling molecules or developmental effectors for fungi and hence are produced only under very specific environmental conditions or stages in their life cycle. However, as these complex conditions are difficult or even impossible to mimic in laboratory settings, only a small fraction of the true chemical diversity of fungi is known so far. This also implies that a large space for potentially new pharmaceuticals remains unexplored. We here present an overview on current developments in advanced methods that can be used to explore this chemical space. We focus on genetic and genomic methods, how to detect genes that harbor the blueprints for the production of these compounds (i.e., biosynthetic gene clusters, BGCs), and ways to activate these silent chromosomal regions. We provide an in-depth view of the chromatin-level regulation of BGCs and of the potential to use the CRISPR/Cas technology as an activation tool.

Some Factors from Theory, Simulation, Experiment and Proteomes in the Current Biosphere Supporting Deep Oceans as the Location of the Origin of Terrestrial Life

Some standard arguments are reviewed supporting deep ocean trenches as a likely location for the origin of terrestrial life. An analysis of proteomes of contemporary prokaryotes carried out by this group is cited as supporting evidence, indicating that the original proteins were formed by quenching from temperatures close to the boiling point of water. Coarse-grained simulations of the network formation process which agree quite well with experiments of such quenches both in drying and rapid fluid emission from a hot to a cold fluid are also described and cited as support for such a scenario. We suggest further experiments, observations and theoretical and simulation work to explore this hypothesis.

Zelkovamycins F and G, Cyclopeptides with Cα-Methyl-threonine Residues, from an Endophytic Kitasatospora sp

Zelkovamycins F and G (1 and 2), two new natural cyclic octapeptides possessing the unprecedented nonproteinogenic amino acid residues l-α-methyl-threonine and l-α-methyl-allo-threonine, respectively, along with four new analogues, zelkovamycins H-K (3-6), were identified from the endophytic Kitasatospora sp. CPCC 204717. Their structures were elucidated by detailed analysis of NMR and HRESIMS/MS spectroscopic data. The configurations of amino acid residues were determined by Marfey's analysis combined with NMR calculations. Compounds 1, 2, and 4 showed potent antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis. The structure-activity relationship study revealed that the 2-methyl-3-oxobutyrine and sarcosine residues played important roles in their antibacterial activities. Zelkovamycin (7) and zelkovamycin E (8) exhibited significant antiviral activity against the hepatitis C virus.

Gene Expression and Characterization of Iturin A Lipopeptide Biosurfactant from Bacillus aryabhattai for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Biosurfactants are eco-friendly surface-active molecules recommended for enhanced oil recovery techniques. In the present study, a potential lipopeptide (biosurfactant) encoding the iturin A gene was synthesized from Bacillus aryabhattai. To improvise the yield of the lipopeptide for specific applications, current research tends toward engineering and expressing recombinant peptides. An iturin A gene sequence was codon-optimized, amplified with gene-specific primers, and ligated into the pET-32A expression vector to achieve high-level protein expression. The plasmid construct was transformed into an E. coli BL21 DE3 host to evaluate the expression. The highly expressed recombinant iturin A lipopeptide was purified on a nickel nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni-NTA) agarose column. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) revealed that the purity and molecular mass of iturin A was 41 kDa. The yield of recombinant iturin A was found to be 60 g/L with a 6.7-fold increase in comparison with our previously published study on the wild strain. The approach of cloning a functional fragment of partial iturin A resulted in the increased production of the lipopeptide. When motor oil was used, recombinant protein iturin A revealed a biosurfactant property with a 74 ± 1.9% emulsification index (E24). Purified recombinant protein iturin A was characterized by mass spectrometry. MALDI-TOF spectra of trypsin digestion (protein/trypsin of 50:1 and 25:1) showed desired digested mass peaks for the protein, further confirming the identity of iturin A. The iturin A structure was elucidated based on distinctive spectral bands in Raman spectra, which revealed the presence of a peptide backbone and lipid. Recombinant iturin A was employed for enhanced oil recovery through a sand-packed column that yielded 61.18 ± 0.85% additional oil. Hence, the novel approach of the high-level expression of iturin A (lipopeptide) as a promising biosurfactant employed for oil recovery from Bacillus aryabhattai is not much reported. Thus, recombinant iturin A demonstrated its promising ability for efficient oil recovery, finding specific applications in petroleum industries.

Genomic diversity across the Rickettsia and 'Candidatus Megaira' genera and proposal of genus status for the Torix group

Members of the bacterial genus Rickettsia were originally identified as causative agents of vector-borne diseases in mammals. However, many Rickettsia species are arthropod symbionts and close relatives of ‘Candidatus Megaira’, which are symbiotic associates of microeukaryotes. Here, we clarify the evolutionary relationships between these organisms by assembling 26 genomes of Rickettsia species from understudied groups, including the Torix group, and two genomes of ‘Ca. Megaira’ from various insects and microeukaryotes. Our analyses of the new genomes, in comparison with previously described ones, indicate that the accessory genome diversity and broad host range of Torix Rickettsia are comparable to those of all other Rickettsia combined. Therefore, the Torix clade may play unrecognized roles in invertebrate biology and physiology. We argue this clade should be given its own genus status, for which we propose the name ‘Candidatus Tisiphia’.

The bacterial genus Rickettsia includes vector-borne pathogens and arthropod symbionts that are close relatives of symbionts of microeukaryotes classified under the genus ‘Candidatus Megaira’. Here, Davison et al. clarify the evolutionary relationships between these organisms by assembling 28 genomes of understudied species, and propose that a distinct clade known as Torix Rickettsia should be considered a separate genus.

Exploring Peptaibol's Profile, Antifungal, and Antitumor Activity of Emericellipsin A of Emericellopsis Species from Soda and Saline Soils

Features of the biochemical adaptations of alkaliphilic fungi to exist in extreme environments could promote the production of active antibiotic compounds with the potential to control microorganisms, causing infections associated with health care. Thirty-eight alkaliphilic and alkalitolerant Emericellopsis strains (E. alkalina, E. cf. maritima, E. cf. terricola, Emericellopsis sp.) isolated from different saline soda soils and belonging to marine, terrestrial, and soda soil ecological clades were investigated for emericellipsin A (EmiA) biosynthesis, an antifungal peptaibol previously described for Emericellopsis alkalina. The analysis of the Emericellopsis sp. strains belonging to marine and terrestrial clades from chloride soils revealed another novel form with a mass of 1032.7 Da, defined by MALDI-TOF Ms/Ms spectrometers, as the EmiA lacked a hydroxyl (dEmiA). EmiA displayed strong inhibitory effects on cell proliferation and viability of HCT 116 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manners and induced apoptosis.

Nonribosomal Peptide Synthesis Definitely Working Out of the Rules

Nonribosomal peptides are microbial secondary metabolites exhibiting a tremendous structural diversity and a broad range of biological activities useful in the medical and agro-ecological fields. They are built up by huge multimodular enzymes called nonribosomal peptide synthetases. These synthetases are organized in modules constituted of adenylation, thiolation, and condensation core domains. As such, each module governs, according to the collinearity rule, the incorporation of a monomer within the growing peptide. The release of the peptide from the assembly chain is finally performed by a terminal core thioesterase domain. Secondary domains with modifying catalytic activities such as epimerization or methylation are sometimes included in the assembly lines as supplementary domains. This assembly line structure is analyzed by bioinformatics tools to predict the sequence and structure of the final peptides according to the sequence of the corresponding synthetases. However, a constantly expanding literature unravels new examples of nonribosomal synthetases exhibiting very rare domains and noncanonical organizations of domains and modules, leading to several amazing strategies developed by microorganisms to synthesize nonribosomal peptides. In this review, through several examples, we aim at highlighting these noncanonical pathways in order for the readers to perceive their complexity.

Unveiling the genomic potential of Pseudomonas type strains for discovering new natural products

Microbes host a huge variety of biosynthetic gene clusters that produce an immeasurable array of secondary metabolites with many different biological activities such as antimicrobial, anticarcinogenic and antiviral. Despite the complex task of isolating and characterizing novel natural products, microbial genomic strategies can be useful for carrying out these types of studies. However, although genomic-based research on secondary metabolism is on the increase, there is still a lack of reports focusing specifically on the genus Pseudomonas. In this work, we aimed (i) to unveil the main biosynthetic systems related to secondary metabolism in Pseudomonas type strains, (ii) to study the evolutionary processes that drive the diversification of their coding regions and (iii) to select Pseudomonas strains showing promising results in the search for useful natural products. We performed a comparative genomic study on 194 Pseudomonas species, paying special attention to the evolution and distribution of different classes of biosynthetic gene clusters and the coding features of antimicrobial peptides. Using EvoMining, a bioinformatic approach for studying evolutionary processes related to secondary metabolism, we sought to decipher the protein expansion of enzymes related to the lipid metabolism, which may have evolved toward the biosynthesis of novel secondary metabolites in Pseudomonas. The types of metabolites encoded in Pseudomonas type strains were predominantly non-ribosomal peptide synthetases, bacteriocins, N-acetylglutaminylglutamine amides and ß-lactones. Also, the evolution of genes related to secondary metabolites was found to coincide with Pseudomonas species diversification. Interestingly, only a few Pseudomonas species encode polyketide synthases, which are related to the lipid metabolism broadly distributed among bacteria. Thus, our EvoMining-based search may help to discover new types of secondary metabolite gene clusters in which lipid-related enzymes are involved. This work provides information about uncharacterized metabolites produced by Pseudomonas type strains, whose gene clusters have evolved in a species-specific way. Our results provide novel insight into the secondary metabolism of Pseudomonas and will serve as a basis for the prioritization of the isolated strains. This article contains data hosted by Microreact.

Screening of Antimicrobial Activities and Lipopeptide Production of Endophytic Bacteria Isolated from Vetiver Roots

The exploration of certain microbial resources such as beneficial endophytic microorganisms is considered a promising strategy for the discovery of new antimicrobial compounds for the pharmaceutical industries and agriculture. Thirty-one endophytic bacterial strains affiliated with Bacillus, Janthinobacterium, Yokenella, Enterobacter, Pseudomonas, Serratia, and Microbacterium were previously isolated from vetiver (Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty) roots. These endophytes showed antifungal activity against Fusarium graminearum and could be a source of antimicrobial metabolites. In this study, in particular, using high-throughput screening, we analyzed their antagonistic activities and those of their cell-free culture supernatants against three species of Fusarium plant pathogens, a bacterial strain of Escherichia coli, and a yeast strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as well as their capacity to produce lipopeptides. The results showed that the culture supernatants of four strains close to B. subtilis species exhibited antimicrobial activities against Fusarium species and E. coli. Using mass spectrometry analyses, we identified two groups of lipopeptides (surfactins and plipastatins) in their culture supernatants. Whole-genome sequencing confirmed that these bacteria possess NRPS gene clusters for surfactin and plipastatin. In vitro tests confirmed the inhibitory effect of plipastatin alone or in combination with surfactin against the three Fusarium species.

Identification of structurally diverse menaquinone-binding antibiotics with in vivo activity against multidrug-resistant pathogens

The emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria poses a threat to global health and necessitates the development of additional in vivo active antibiotics with diverse modes of action. Directly targeting menaquinone (MK), which plays an important role in bacterial electron transport, is an appealing, yet underexplored, mode of action due to a dearth of MK-binding molecules. Here we combine sequence-based metagenomic mining with a motif search of bioinformatically predicted natural product structures to identify six biosynthetic gene clusters that we predicted encode MK-binding antibiotics (MBAs). Their predicted products (MBA1-6) were rapidly accessed using a synthetic bioinformatic natural product approach, which relies on bioinformatic structure prediction followed by chemical synthesis. Among these six structurally diverse MBAs, four make up two new MBA structural families. The most potent member of each new family (MBA3, MBA6) proved effective at treating methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection in a murine peritonitis-sepsis model. The only conserved feature present in all MBAs is the sequence 'GXLXXXW', which we propose represents a minimum MK-binding motif. Notably, we found that a subset of MBAs were active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis both in vitro and in macrophages. Our findings suggest that naturally occurring MBAs are a structurally diverse and untapped class of mechanistically interesting, in vivo active antibiotics.

Genomic and Metabolomic Analyses of the Marine Fungus Emericellopsis cladophorae: Insights into Saltwater Adaptability Mechanisms and Its Biosynthetic Potential

The genus Emericellopsis is found in terrestrial, but mainly in marine, environments with a worldwide distribution. Although Emericellopsis has been recognized as an important source of bioactive compounds, the range of metabolites expressed by the species of this genus, as well as the genes involved in their production are still poorly known. Untargeted metabolomics, using UPLC- QToF–MS/MS, and genome sequencing (Illumina HiSeq) was performed to unlock E. cladophorae MUM 19.33 chemical diversity. The genome of E. cladophorae is 26.9 Mb and encodes 8572 genes. A large set of genes encoding carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes), secreted proteins, transporters, and secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters were identified. Our analysis also revealed genomic signatures that may reflect a certain fungal adaptability to the marine environment, such as genes encoding for (1) the high-osmolarity glycerol pathway; (2) osmolytes’ biosynthetic processes; (3) ion transport systems, and (4) CAZymes classes allowing the utilization of marine polysaccharides. The fungal crude extract library constructed revealed a promising source of antifungal (e.g., 9,12,13-Trihydroxyoctadec-10-enoic acid, hymeglusin), antibacterial (e.g., NovobiocinA), anticancer (e.g., daunomycinone, isoreserpin, flavopiridol), and anti-inflammatory (e.g., 2’-O-Galloylhyperin) metabolites. We also detected unknown compounds with no structural match in the databases used. The metabolites’ profiles of E. cladophorae MUM 19.33 fermentations were salt dependent. The results of this study contribute to unravel aspects of the biology and ecology of this marine fungus. The genome and metabolome data are relevant for future biotechnological exploitation of the species.

Potential Antagonistic Bacteria against Verticillium dahliae Isolated from Artificially Infested Nursery

As an ecofriendly biocontrol agent, antagonistic bacteria are a crucial class of highly efficient fungicides in the field against Verticillium dahliae, the most virulent pathogen for cotton and other crops. Toward identifying urgently needed bacterial candidates, we screened bacteria isolated from the cotton rhizosphere soil for antagonisitic activity against V. dahliae in an artificially infested nursery. In preliminary tests of antagonistic candidates to characterize the mechanism of action of on culture medium, 88 strains that mainly belonged to Bacillus strongly inhibited the colony diameter of V. dahliae, with inhibiting efficacy up to 50% in 9 strains. Among the most-effective bacterial strains, Bacillus sp. ABLF-18, and ABLF-50 and Paenibacillus sp. ABLF-90 significantly reduced the disease index and fungal biomass of cotton to 40–70% that of the control. In further tests to elucidate the biocontrol mechanism (s), the strains secreted extracellular enzymes cellulase, glucanase, and protease, which can degrade the mycelium, and antimicrobial lipopeptides such as surfactin and iturin homologues. The expression of PAL, MAPK and PR10, genes related to disease resistance, was also elicited in cotton plants. Our results clearly show that three candidate bacterial strains can enhance cotton defense responses against V. dahliae; the secretion of fungal cell-wall-degrading enzymes, synthesis of nonribosomal antimicrobial peptides and induction of systemic resistance shows that the strains have great potential as biocontrol fungicides.

Nerpa: A Tool for Discovering Biosynthetic Gene Clusters of Bacterial Nonribosomal Peptides

Microbial natural products are a major source of bioactive compounds for drug discovery. Among these molecules, nonribosomal peptides (NRPs) represent a diverse class of natural products that include antibiotics, immunosuppressants, and anticancer agents. Recent breakthroughs in natural product discovery have revealed the chemical structure of several thousand NRPs. However, biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) encoding them are known only for a few hundred compounds. Here, we developed Nerpa, a computational method for the high-throughput discovery of novel BGCs responsible for producing known NRPs. After searching 13,399 representative bacterial genomes from the RefSeq repository against 8368 known NRPs, Nerpa linked 117 BGCs to their products. We further experimentally validated the predicted BGC of ngercheumicin from Photobacterium galatheae via mass spectrometry. Nerpa supports searching new genomes against thousands of known NRP structures, and novel molecular structures against tens of thousands of bacterial genomes. The availability of these tools can enhance our understanding of NRP synthesis and the function of their biosynthetic enzymes.

Bioprospecting Trichoderma: A Systematic Roadmap to Screen Genomes and Natural Products for Biocontrol Applications

Natural products derived from microbes are crucial innovations that would help in reaching sustainability development goals worldwide while achieving bioeconomic growth. Trichoderma species are well-studied model fungal organisms used for their biocontrol properties with great potential to alleviate the use of agrochemicals in agriculture. However, identifying and characterizing effective natural products in novel species or strains as biological control products remains a meticulous process with many known challenges to be navigated. Integration of recent advancements in various "omics" technologies, next generation biodesign, machine learning, and artificial intelligence approaches could greatly advance bioprospecting goals. Herein, we propose a roadmap for assessing the potential impact of already known or newly discovered Trichoderma species for biocontrol applications. By screening publicly available Trichoderma genome sequences, we first highlight the prevalence of putative biosynthetic gene clusters and antimicrobial peptides among genomes as an initial step toward predicting which organisms could increase the diversity of natural products. Next, we discuss high-throughput methods for screening organisms to discover and characterize natural products and how these findings impact both fundamental and applied research fields.

MassSpecBlocks: a web-based tool to create building blocks and sequences of nonribosomal peptides and polyketides for tandem mass spectra analysis

Nonribosomal peptides and polyketides are natural products commonly synthesized by microorganisms. They are widely used in medicine, agriculture, environmental protection, and other fields. The structures of natural products are often analyzed by high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry, which becomes more popular with its increasing availability. However, the characterization of nonribosomal peptides and polyketides from tandem mass spectra is a nontrivial task because they are composed of many uncommon building blocks in addition to proteinogenic amino acids. Moreover, many of them have cyclic and branch-cyclic structures. Here, we introduce MassSpecBlocks – an open-source and web-based tool that converts the input chemical structures in SMILES format into sequences of building blocks. The structures can be searched in public databases PubChem, ChemSpider, ChEBI, NP Atlas, COCONUT, and Norine and edited in a user-friendly graphical interface. Although MassSpecBlocks can serve as a stand-alone database, our primary goal was to enable easy construction of custom sequence and building block databases, which can be used to annotate mass spectra in CycloBranch software. CycloBranch is an open-source, cross-platform, and stand-alone tool that we recently released for annotating spectra of linear, cyclic, branched, and branch-cyclic nonribosomal peptides and polyketide siderophores. The sequences and building blocks created in MassSpecBlocks can be easily exported into a plain text format used by CycloBranch. MassSpecBlocks is available online or can be installed entirely offline. It offers a REST API to cooperate with other tools.

Alkaloids in Contemporary Drug Discovery to Meet Global Disease Needs

An overview is presented of the well-established role of alkaloids in drug discovery, the application of more sustainable chemicals, and biological approaches, and the implementation of information systems to address the current challenges faced in meeting global disease needs. The necessity for a new international paradigm for natural product discovery and development for the treatment of multidrug resistant organisms, and rare and neglected tropical diseases in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Quintuple Helix is discussed.

In silico Approaches for the Design and Optimization of Interfering Peptides Against Protein-Protein Interactions

Large contact surfaces of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) remain to be an ongoing issue in the discovery and design of small molecule modulators. Peptides are intrinsically capable of exploring larger surfaces, stable, and bioavailable, and therefore bear a high therapeutic value in the treatment of various diseases, including cancer, infectious diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases. Given these promising properties, a long way has been covered in the field of targeting PPIs via peptide design strategies. In silico tools have recently become an inevitable approach for the design and optimization of these interfering peptides. Various algorithms have been developed to scrutinize the PPI interfaces. Moreover, different databases and software tools have been created to predict the peptide structures and their interactions with target protein complexes. High-throughput screening of large peptide libraries against PPIs; "hotspot" identification; structure-based and off-structure approaches of peptide design; 3D peptide modeling; peptide optimization strategies like cyclization; and peptide binding energy evaluation are among the capabilities of in silico tools. In the present study, the most recent advances in the field of in silico approaches for the design of interfering peptides against PPIs will be reviewed. The future perspective of the field and its advantages and limitations will also be pinpointed.

Proposal of the Annotation of Phosphorylated Amino Acids and Peptides Using Biological and Chemical Codes

Phosphorylation represents one of the most important modifications of amino acids, peptides, and proteins. By modifying the latter, it is useful in improving the functional properties of foods. Although all these substances are broadly annotated in internet databases, there is no unified code for their annotation. The present publication aims to describe a simple code for the annotation of phosphopeptide sequences. The proposed code describes the location of phosphate residues in amino acid side chains (including new rules of atom numbering in amino acids) and the diversity of phosphate residues (e.g., di- and triphosphate residues and phosphate amidation). This article also includes translating the proposed biological code into SMILES, being the most commonly used chemical code. Finally, it discusses possible errors associated with applying the proposed code and in the resulting SMILES representations of phosphopeptides. The proposed code can be extended to describe other modifications in the future.

StreptomeDB 3.0: an updated compendium of streptomycetes natural products

Antimicrobial resistance is an emerging global health threat necessitating the rapid development of novel antimicrobials. Remarkably, the vast majority of currently available antibiotics are natural products (NPs) isolated from streptomycetes, soil-dwelling bacteria of the genus Streptomyces. However, there is still a huge reservoir of streptomycetes NPs which remains pharmaceutically untapped and a compendium thereof could serve as a source of inspiration for the rational design of novel antibiotics. Initially released in 2012, StreptomeDB (http://www.pharmbioinf.uni-freiburg.de/streptomedb) is the first and only public online database that enables the interactive phylogenetic exploration of streptomycetes and their isolated or mutasynthesized NPs. In this third release, there are substantial improvements over its forerunners, especially in terms of data content. For instance, about 2500 unique NPs were newly annotated through manual curation of about 1300 PubMed-indexed articles, published in the last five years since the second release. To increase interoperability, StreptomeDB entries were hyperlinked to several spectral, (bio)chemical and chemical vendor databases, and also to a genome-based NP prediction server. Moreover, predicted pharmacokinetic and toxicity profiles were added. Lastly, some recent real-world use cases of StreptomeDB are highlighted, to illustrate its applicability in life sciences.

Diversity of Polyketide Synthases and Nonribosomal Peptide Synthetases Revealed Through Metagenomic Analysis of a Deep Oligotrophic Cave

Caves are considered to be extreme and challenging environments. It is believed that the ability of microorganisms to produce secondary metabolites enhances their survivability and adaptiveness in the energy-starved cave environment. Unfortunately, information on the genetic potential for the production of secondary metabolites, such as polyketides and nonribosomal peptides, is limited. In the present study, we aimed to identify and characterize genes responsible for the production of secondary metabolites in the microbial community of one of the deepest caves in the world, Krubera-Voronja Cave (43.4184 N 40.3083 E, Western Caucasus). The analysed sample materials included sediments, drinkable water from underground camps, soil and clay from the cave walls, speleothems and coloured spots from the cave walls. The type II polyketide synthases (PKSs) ketosynthases α and β and the adenylation domains of nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) were investigated using a metagenomic approach. Taxonomic diversity analysis showed that most PKS sequences could be attributed to Actinobacteria followed by unclassified bacteria and Acidobacteria, while the NRPS sequences were more taxonomically diverse and could be assigned to Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Firmicutes, Chloroflexi, etc. Only three putative metabolites could be predicted: an angucycline group polyketide, a massetolide A-like cyclic lipopeptide and a surfactin-like lipopeptide. The absolute majority of PKS and NRPS sequences showed low similarity with the sequences of the reference biosynthetic pathways, suggesting that these sequences could be involved in the production of novel secondary metabolites.

SeMPI 2.0-A Web Server for PKS and NRPS Predictions Combined with Metabolite Screening in Natural Product Databases

Microorganisms produce secondary metabolites with a remarkable range of bioactive properties. The constantly increasing amount of published genomic data provides the opportunity for efficient identification of biosynthetic gene clusters by genome mining. On the other hand, for many natural products with resolved structures, the encoding biosynthetic gene clusters have not been identified yet. Of those secondary metabolites, the scaffolds of nonribosomal peptides and polyketides (type I modular) can be predicted due to their building block-like assembly. SeMPI v2 provides a comprehensive prediction pipeline, which includes the screening of the scaffold in publicly available natural compound databases. The screening algorithm was designed to detect homologous structures even for partial, incomplete clusters. The pipeline allows linking of gene clusters to known natural products and therefore also provides a metric to estimate the novelty of the cluster if a matching scaffold cannot be found. Whereas currently available tools attempt to provide comprehensive information about a wide range of gene clusters, SeMPI v2 aims to focus on precise predictions. Therefore, the cluster detection algorithm, including building block generation and domain substrate prediction, was thoroughly refined and benchmarked, to provide high-quality scaffold predictions. In a benchmark based on 559 gene clusters, SeMPI v2 achieved comparable or better results than antiSMASH v5. Additionally, the SeMPI v2 web server provides features that can help to further investigate a submitted gene cluster, such as the incorporation of a genome browser, and the possibility to modify a predicted scaffold in a workbench before the database screening.

Alterins Produced by Oyster-Associated Pseudoalteromonas Are Antibacterial Cyclolipopeptides with LPS-Binding Activity

Discovery after discovery, host-associated microbiota reveal a growing list of positive effects on host homeostasis by contributing to host nutrition, improving hosts' immune systems and protecting hosts against pathogens. In that context, a collection of oyster associated bacteria producing antibacterial compounds have been established to evaluate their role in non-host-derived immunity. Here, we described alterins; potent anti-Gram negative compounds produced by Pseudoalteromonas hCg-6 and hCg-42 isolated from different healthy oyster hemolymph. The strains hCg-6 and hCg-42 produce a set of at least seven antibacterial compounds, ranging from 926 to 982 Da structurally characterized as cyclolipopeptides (CLPs). Alterins share the same cationic heptapeptidic cycle connected via an amido bond to different hydrophobic hydrocarbon tails. Their MICs disclosed a potent antibacterial activity directed against Gram-negative bacteria including oyster and human pathogens that may confer a beneficial defense mechanism to the host but also represents an untapped source of new antibiotics. The alterins' mechanisms of action have been deciphered: after binding to lipopolysaccharides (LPS), alterins provoke a membrane depolarization and permeabilization leading to bacterial lysis. As hCg-6 and hCg-42 produced a set of natural derivatives, the structure/activity relationship linked to the carbon tail is clarified. We showed that the hydrocarbon tail determines the LPS-binding properties of alterins and consequently their antibacterial activities. Its length and saturation seem to play a major role in this interaction.

Polyketide Synthase and Nonribosomal Peptide Synthetase Gene Clusters in Type Strains of the Genus Phytohabitans

(1) Background: Phytohabitans is a recently established genus belonging to rare actinomycetes. It has been unclear if its members have the capacity to synthesize diverse secondary metabolites. Polyketide and nonribosomal peptide compounds are major secondary metabolites in actinomycetes and expected as a potential source for novel pharmaceuticals. (2) Methods: Whole genomes of Phytohabitans flavus NBRC 107702^T, Phytohabitans rumicis NBRC 108638^T, Phytohabitans houttuyneae NBRC 108639^T, and Phytohabitans suffuscus NBRC 105367^T were sequenced by PacBio. Polyketide synthase (PKS) and nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) gene clusters were bioinformatically analyzed in the genome sequences. (3) Results: These four strains harbored 10, 14, 18 and 14 PKS and NRPS gene clusters, respectively. Most of the gene clusters were annotated to synthesis unknown chemistries. (4) Conclusions: Members of the genus Phytohabitans are a possible source for novel and diverse polyketides and nonribosomal peptides.

Sphaerostilbellins, New Antimicrobial Aminolipopeptide Peptaibiotics from Sphaerostilbella toxica

Sphaerostilbella toxica is a mycoparasitic fungus that can be found parasitizing wood-decay basidiomycetes in the southern USA. Organic solvent extracts of fermented strains of S. toxica exhibited potent antimicrobial activity, including potent growth inhibition of human pathogenic yeasts Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans, the respiratory pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus, and the Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. Bioassay-guided separations led to the purification and structure elucidation of new peptaibiotics designated as sphaerostilbellins A and B. Their structures were established mainly by analysis of NMR and HRMS data, verification of amino acid composition by Marfey's method, and by comparison with published data of known compounds. They incorporate intriguing structural features, including an N-terminal 2-methyl-3-oxo-tetradecanoyl (MOTDA) residue and a C-terminal putrescine residue. The minimal inhibitory concentrations for sphaerostilbellins A and B were measured as 2 μM each for C. neoformans, 1 μM each for A. fumigatus, and 4 and 2 μM, respectively, for C. albicans. Murine macrophage cells were unaffected at these concentrations.

Abundance, Diversity and Role of ICEs and IMEs in the Adaptation of Streptococcus salivarius to the Environment

Streptococcus salivarius is a significant contributor to the human oral, pharyngeal and gut microbiomes that contribute to the maintenance of health. The high genomic diversity observed in this species is mainly caused by horizontal gene transfer. This work aimed to evaluate the contribution of integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs) and integrative and mobilizable elements (IMEs) in S. salivarius genome diversity. For this purpose, we performed an in-depth analysis of 75 genomes of S. salivarius and searched for signature genes of conjugative and mobilizable elements. This analysis led to the retrieval of 69 ICEs, 165 IMEs and many decayed elements showing their high prevalence in S. salivarius genomes. The identification of almost all ICE and IME boundaries allowed the identification of the genes in which these elements are inserted. Furthermore, the exhaustive analysis of the adaptation genes carried by these elements showed that they encode numerous functions such as resistance to stress, to antibiotics or to toxic compounds, and numerous enzymes involved in diverse cellular metabolic pathways. These data support the idea that not only ICEs but also IMEs and decayed elements play an important role in S. salivarius adaptation to the environment.

Monomer structure fingerprints: an extension of the monomer composition version for peptide databases

Previously a fingerprint based on monomer composition (MCFP) of nonribosomal peptides (NRPs) has been introduced. MCFP is a novel method for obtaining a representative description of NRP structures from their monomer composition in a fingerprint form. An effective screening and prediction of biological activities has been obtained from Norine NRPs database. In this paper, we present an extension of the MCFP fingerprint. This extension is based on adding few columns into the fingerprint; representing monomer clusters, 2D structures, peptide categories, and peptide diversity. All these data have been extracted from the NRP structure. Experiments with Norine NRPs database showed that the extended MCFP, that can be called Monomer Structure FingerPrint (MSFP) produced high prediction accuracy (> 95%) together with a high recall rate (86%) obtained when MSFP was used for prediction and similarity searching. From this study it appeared that MSFP mainly built from monomer composition can substantially be improved by adding more columns representing useful information about monomer composition and 2D structure of NRPs.

Overview on Multienzymatic Cascades for the Production of Non-canonical α-Amino Acids

The 22 genetically encoded amino acids (AAs) present in proteins (the 20 standard AAs together with selenocysteine and pyrrolysine), are commonly referred as proteinogenic AAs in the literature due to their appearance in ribosome-synthetized polypeptides. Beyond the borders of this key set of compounds, the rest of AAs are generally named imprecisely as non-proteinogenic AAs, even when they can also appear in polypeptide chains as a result of post-transductional machinery. Besides their importance as metabolites in life, many of D-α- and L-α-"non-canonical" amino acids (NcAAs) are of interest in the biotechnological and biomedical fields. They have found numerous applications in the discovery of new medicines and antibiotics, drug synthesis, cosmetic, and nutritional compounds, or in the improvement of protein and peptide pharmaceuticals. In addition to the numerous studies dealing with the asymmetric synthesis of NcAAs, many different enzymatic pathways have been reported in the literature allowing for the biosynthesis of NcAAs. Due to the huge heterogeneity of this group of molecules, this review is devoted to provide an overview on different established multienzymatic cascades for the production of non-canonical D-α- and L-α-AAs, supplying neophyte and experienced professionals in this field with different illustrative examples in the literature. Whereas the discovery of new or newly designed enzymes is of great interest, dusting off previous enzymatic methodologies by a "back and to the future" strategy might accelerate the implementation of new or improved multienzymatic cascades.