Abstract (Expand)
The rice seedling blight fungus Rhizopus microsporus harbors
endosymbiotic bacteria (Burkholderia rhizoxinica) that produce
the virulence factor rhizoxin and control host development.
Genome mining … indicated a massive inventory of cryptic non-
ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) genes, which have not
yet been linked to any natural products. The discovery and full
characterization of a novel cyclopeptide from endofungal bac-
teria is reported. In silico analysis of an orphan, symbiont-spe-
cific NRPS predicted the structure of a nonribosomal peptide,
which was targeted by LC-MS/MS profiling of wild-type and
engineered null mutants. NMR spectroscopy and chemical deri-
vatization elucidated the structure of the bacterial cyclopep-
tide. Phylogenetic analyses revealed the relationship of starter
C domains for rare N-acetyl-capped peptides. Heptarhizin is
produced under symbiotic conditions in geographically con-
strained strains from the Pacific clade; this indicates a potential
ecological role of the peptide.
Authors: Sarah Niehs, Benjamin Dose, Kirstin Scherlach, Martin Roth, Christian Hertweck
Date Published: 16th Aug 2018
Publication Type: Not specified
DOI: 10.1002/cbic.201800400
Citation: S. P. Niehs, B. Dose, K. Scherlach, M. Roth, C. Hertweck, ChemBioChem, 19, 2167–2172, 2018.