Methionine-Containing Rhabdopeptide/Xenortide-like Peptides from Heterologous Expression of the Biosynthetic Gene Cluster kj12ABC in Escherichia coli

  • J Nat Prod. 2018 Oct 26;81(10):2292-2295. doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.8b00425.
Lei Zhao  1  2 ,  Xiaofeng Cai  1 ,  Marcel Kaiser  3  4 ,  Helge B Bode  1  5
Affiliations
  • 1. Molekulare Biotechnologie, Fachbereich Biowissenschaften , Goethe Universität Frankfurt , 60438 Frankfurt am Main , Germany.
  • 2. Institute of Botany , Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences , 210014 Nanjing , China.
  • 3. Parasite Chemotherapy , Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute , 4051 Basel , Switzerland.
  • 4. University of Basel , 4003 Basel , Switzerland.
  • 5. Buchmann Institute for Molecular Life Sciences (BMLS) , Goethe Universität Frankfurt , 60438 Frankfurt am Main , Germany.
PMID: 30302998 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.8b00425
Abstract

Seven new methionine-containing rhabdopeptide/xenortide-like peptides (1-7) were identified from Escherichia coli expressing the rhabdopeptide/xenortide-like peptide biosynthetic gene cluster kj12ABC from Xenorhabdus KJ12.1. Their structures were elucidated by detailed HPLC-HR-MS/MS analysis and confirmed by chemical synthesis. Bioactivity tests of these first rhabdopeptide/xenortide-like peptide derivatives (2-7) showing methionine building blocks compared to the usually found derivatives containing exclusively hydrophobic Amino acids such as valine, leucine, or phenylalanine revealed good activities of 2-7 against protozoan parasites and no cytotoxicity against mammalian L6 cells.