It has recently become appreciated that ribosomal peptide natural products (RiPPs) represent one of the major groups of bioactive natural products on Earth. The compounds are found nearly universally in bacteria, where they place diverse roles including quorum signaling, cofactor synthesis, and chemical defense. Most commonly, RiPPs exhibit potent antibiotic activity. They are key players in modern drug discovery and development. Perhaps more importantly, RiPPs present an enormous storehouse of posttranslational machinery that can be used to design drug-like compounds. They are readily manipulated for the rational engineering and optimization of desired properties. In this proposal, we will use this diverse RiPP biosynthetic machinery to better understand posttranslational enzymes, to optimize and engineer production platforms, and to develop technologies to better harness these complex pathways in the design and discovery of new antibiotics.
Our specific aims are to: 1) Characterize unique RiPP posttranslational enzymes using chemical, biochemical, and genetic methods; 2) Improve compound production and analog synthesis in heterologous hosts; 3) Discover new antibiotics by implementing novel bioassays.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01GM102602-03
Application #
8821631
Study Section
Synthetic and Biological Chemistry B Study Section (SBCB)
Program Officer
Gerratana, Barbara
Project Start
2013-04-01
Project End
2017-03-31
Budget Start
2015-04-01
Budget End
2016-03-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2015
Total Cost
$348,352
Indirect Cost
$88,618
Name
University of Utah
Department
Pharmacology
Type
Schools of Pharmacy
DUNS #
009095365
City
Salt Lake City
State
UT
Country
United States
Zip Code
84112
Smith, Thomas E; Pond, Christopher D; Pierce, Elizabeth et al. (2018) Accessing chemical diversity from the uncultivated symbionts of small marine animals. Nat Chem Biol 14:179-185
Morita, Maho; Hao, Yue; Jokela, Jouni K et al. (2018) Post-Translational Tyrosine Geranylation in Cyanobactin Biosynthesis. J Am Chem Soc 140:6044-6048
Sardar, Debosmita; Hao, Yue; Lin, Zhenjian et al. (2017) Enzymatic N- and C-Protection in Cyanobactin RiPP Natural Products. J Am Chem Soc 139:2884-2887
Tianero, Ma Diarey; Pierce, Elizabeth; Raghuraman, Shrinivasan et al. (2016) Metabolic model for diversity-generating biosynthesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 113:1772-7
Lin, Zhenjian; Torres, Joshua P; Tianero, M Diarey et al. (2016) Origin of Chemical Diversity in Prochloron-Tunicate Symbiosis. Appl Environ Microbiol 82:3450-60
Hao, Yue; Pierce, Elizabeth; Roe, Daniel et al. (2016) Molecular basis for the broad substrate selectivity of a peptide prenyltransferase. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 113:14037-14042
Sardar, Debosmita; Schmidt, Eric W (2016) Combinatorial biosynthesis of RiPPs: docking with marine life. Curr Opin Chem Biol 31:15-21
Sardar, D; Tianero, M D; Schmidt, E W (2016) Directing Biosynthesis: Practical Supply of Natural and Unnatural Cyanobactins. Methods Enzymol 575:1-20
Sardar, Debosmita; Lin, Zhenjian; Schmidt, Eric W (2015) Modularity of RiPP Enzymes Enables Designed Synthesis of Decorated Peptides. Chem Biol 22:907-16
Sardar, Debosmita; Pierce, Elizabeth; McIntosh, John A et al. (2015) Recognition sequences and substrate evolution in cyanobactin biosynthesis. ACS Synth Biol 4:167-76

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