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Mersacidin

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Mersacidin is a type-B lantibiotic containing 3-methyllanthionine and S-(2-aminovinyl)-3-methylcysteine residues and four intra-chain thioether bridges. It is obtained from Bacillus sp. HIL Y-85,54728 and is active in vivo against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Category
Functional Peptides
Catalog number
BAT-011936
CAS number
128104-18-7
Molecular Formula
C80H120N20O21S4
Molecular Weight
1826.19
Mersacidin
IUPAC Name
3-[(4S,7S,8S,11R,14S,17E,20S,26S)-7-[[(3S,6S,7S,10R,13S,28S)-6-[[(2S)-2-[[(2S,3S,6R)-6-amino-2-methyl-5-oxo-1,4-thiazepane-3-carbonyl]amino]-3-phenylpropanoyl]amino]-7-methyl-3-(2-methylpropyl)-2,5,12,15,18,21,24,27-octaoxo-13-propan-2-yl-8-thia-1,4,11,14,17,20,23,26-octazabicyclo[26.3.0]hentriacontane-10-carbonyl]amino]-14-[(2R)-butan-2-yl]-8,20-dimethyl-23-methylidene-4-(2-methylpropyl)-3,6,12,15,21,24,27-heptaoxo-9,19-dithia-2,5,13,16,22,25,28-heptazabicyclo[9.9.8]octacos-17-en-26-yl]propanoic acid
Synonyms
M87-1551; GTPL11014
Purity
>98% by HPLC
Density
1.262 g/cm3
Boiling Point
2008°C at 760 mmHg
Sequence
CTFTLPGGGGVCTLTSECIC
InChI
InChI=1S/C80H120N20O21S4/c1-14-40(8)61-74(115)82-24-26-122-42(10)62-76(117)87-41(9)66(107)88-48(22-23-59(105)106)68(109)92-52(71(112)95-61)35-124-44(12)64(78(119)89-49(27-37(2)3)69(110)97-62)99-72(113)53-36-125-45(13)65(98-70(111)50(29-46-19-16-15-17-20-46)90-77(118)63-43(11)123-34-47(81)67(108)96-63)79(120)91-51(28-38(4)5)80(121)100-25-18-21-54(100)73(114)86-32-57(103)84-30-55(101)83-31-56(102)85-33-58(104)94-60(39(6)7)75(116)93-53/h15-17,19-20,24,26,37-40,42-45,47-54,60-65H,9,14,18,21-23,25,27-36,81H2,1-8,10-13H3,(H,82,115)(H,83,101)(H,84,103)(H,85,102)(H,86,114)(H,87,117)(H,88,107)(H,89,119)(H,90,118)(H,91,120)(H,92,109)(H,93,116)(H,94,104)(H,95,112)(H,96,108)(H,97,110)(H,98,111)(H,99,113)(H,105,106)/b26-24+/t40-,42+,43+,44+,45+,47+,48+,49+,50+,51+,52+,53+,54+,60+,61+,62?,63-,64-,65-/m1/s1
InChI Key
JSWKNDSDVHJUKY-CYGWNLPQSA-N
Canonical SMILES
CCC(C)C1C(=O)NC=CSC(C2C(=O)NC(=C)C(=O)NC(C(=O)NC(CSC(C(C(=O)NC(C(=O)N2)CC(C)C)NC(=O)C3CSC(C(C(=O)NC(C(=O)N4CCCC4C(=O)NCC(=O)NCC(=O)NCC(=O)NCC(=O)NC(C(=O)N3)C(C)C)CC(C)C)NC(=O)C(CC5=CC=CC=C5)NC(=O)C6C(SCC(C(=O)N6)N)C)C)C)C(=O)N1)CCC(=O)O)C
1. Mutational Studies of the Mersacidin Leader Reveal the Function of Its Unique Two-Step Leader Processing Mechanism
Jakob H Viel, Oscar P Kuipers ACS Synth Biol. 2022 May 20;11(5):1949-1957. doi: 10.1021/acssynbio.2c00088. Epub 2022 May 3.
The class II lanthipeptide mersacidin, a ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide (RiPP), displays unique intramolecular structures, including a very small lanthionine ring. When applied in the growing field of RiPP engineering, these can add unique features to new-to-nature compounds with novel properties. Recently, a heterologous expression system for mersacidin in Escherichia coli was developed to add its modification enzymes to the RiPP engineering toolbox and further explore mersacidin biosynthesis and leader-processing. The dedicated mersacidin transporter and leader protease MrsT was shown to cleave the leader peptide only partially upon export, transporting GDMEAA-mersacidin out of the cell. The extracellular Bacillus amyloliquefaciens protease AprE was shown to release active mersacidin in a second leader-processing step after transport. The conserved LanT cleavage site in the mersacidin leader is present in many other class II lanthipeptides. In contrast to mersacidin, the leader of these peptides is fully processed in one step. This difference with mersacidin leader-processing raises fundamentally interesting questions about the specifics of mersacidin modification and processing, which is also crucial for its application in RiPP engineering. Here, mutational studies of the mersacidin leader-core interface were performed to answer these questions. Results showed the GDMEAA sequence is crucial for both mersacidin modification and leader processing, revealing a unique leader layout in which a LanM recognition site is positioned downstream of the conserved leader-protease LanT cleavage site. Moreover, by identifying residues and regions that are crucial for mersacidin-type modifications, the wider application of mersacidin modifications in RiPP engineering has been enabled.
2. Heterologous Expression of Mersacidin in Escherichia coli Elucidates the Mode of Leader Processing
Jakob H Viel, Ate H Jaarsma, Oscar P Kuipers ACS Synth Biol. 2021 Mar 19;10(3):600-608. doi: 10.1021/acssynbio.0c00601. Epub 2021 Mar 10.
The lanthipeptide mersacidin is a ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide (RiPP) produced by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. It has antimicrobial activity against a range of Gram-positive bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, giving it potential therapeutic relevance. The structure and bioactivity of mersacidin are derived from a unique combination of lanthionine ring structures, which makes mersacidin also interesting from a lantibiotic-engineering point of view. Until now, mersacidin and its derivatives have exclusively been produced in Bacillus strains and purified from the supernatant in their bioactive form. However, to fully exploit its potential in lanthipeptide-engineering, mersacidin would have to be expressed in a standardized expression system and obtained in its inactive prepeptide form. In such a system, the mersacidin biosynthetic enzymes could be employed to create novel peptides, enhanced by the recent advancements in RiPP engineering, while the leader peptide prevents activity against the expression host. This system would however need a means of postpurification in vitro leader processing to activate the obtained precursor peptides. While mersacidin's native leader processing mechanism has not been confirmed, the bifunctional transporter MrsT and extracellular Bacillus proteases have been suggested to be responsible. Here, a modular system is presented for the heterologous expression of mersacidin in Escherichia coli, which was successfully used to produce and purify inactive premersacidin. The purified product was used to determine the cleavage site of MrsT. Additionally, it was concluded from antimicrobial activity tests that in a second processing step mersacidin is activated by specific extracellular proteases from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens.
3. Characterization of Leader Processing Shows That Partially Processed Mersacidin Is Activated by AprE After Export
Jakob H Viel, Amanda Y van Tilburg, Oscar P Kuipers Front Microbiol. 2021 Oct 28;12:765659. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.765659. eCollection 2021.
The ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide mersacidin is a class II lanthipeptide with good activity against Gram-positive bacteria. The intramolecular lanthionine rings, that give mersacidin its stability and antimicrobial activity, are specific structures with potential applications in synthetic biology. To add the mersacidin modification enzymes to the synthetic biology toolbox, a heterologous expression system for mersacidin in Escherichia coli has recently been developed. While this system was able to produce fully modified mersacidin precursor peptide that could be activated by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens supernatant and showed that mersacidin was activated in an additional proteolytic step after transportation out of the cell, it lacked a mechanism for clean and straightforward leader processing. Here, the protease responsible for activating mersacidin was identified and heterologously produced in E. coli, improving the previously reported heterologous expression system. By screening multiple proteases, the stringency of proteolytic activity directly next to a very small lanthionine ring is demonstrated, and the full two-step proteolytic activation of mersacidin was elucidated. Additionally, the effect of partial leader processing on diffusion and antimicrobial activity is assessed, shedding light on the function of two-step leader processing.
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