Cooperation between a T Domain and a Minimal C-Terminal Docking Domain to Enable Specific Assembly in a Multiprotein NRPS

Non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) produce natural products from amino acid building blocks. They often consist of multiple polypeptide chains which assemble in a specific linear order via specialized N- and C-terminal docking domains (^N/C DDs). Typically, docking domains function independently from other domains in NRPS assembly. Thus, docking domain replacements enable the assembly of "designer" NRPS from proteins that normally do not interact. The multiprotein "peptide-antimicrobial-Xenorhabdus" (PAX) peptide-producing PaxS NRPS is assembled from the three proteins PaxA, PaxB and PaxC. Herein, we show that the small ^C DD of PaxA cooperates with its preceding thiolation (T₁ ) domain to bind the ^N DD of PaxB with very high affinity, establishing a structural and thermodynamical basis for this unprecedented docking interaction, and we test its functional importance in vivo in a truncated PaxS assembly line. Similar docking interactions are apparently present in other NRPS systems.

Generating Functional Recombinant NRPS Enzymes in the Laboratory Setting via Peptidyl Carrier Protein Engineering

Non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) are modular enzymatic assembly lines where substrates and intermediates undergo rounds of transformation catalyzed by adenylation (A), condensation (C), and thioesterase (TE) domains. Central to the NRPS biosynthesis are peptidyl carrier protein (PCP) domains, small, catalytically inactive domains that shuttle substrates and intermediates between the catalytic modules and govern product release from TE domains. There is strong interest in recombination of NRPS systems to generate new chemical entities. However, the intrinsic complexity of these systems has been a major challenge. Here, we employ domain substitution and random mutagenesis to recapitulate NRPS evolution, focusing on PCP domains. Using NRPS model systems that produce two different pigmented molecules, pyoverdine and indigoidine, we found that only evolutionarily specialized recombinant PCP domains could interact effectively with the native TE domain for product release. Overall, we highlight that substituted PCP domains require very minor changes to result in functional NRPSs, and infer that positive selection pressure may improve recombinant NRPS outcomes.