Natural
product-encoding biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) within
microbial genomes far outnumber the known natural products; chemical
products from such BGCs remain cryptic. These silent BGCs hold promise
not only for the elaboration of new natural products but also for
the discovery of useful biosynthetic enzymes. Here, we describe a
genome mining strategy targeted toward the discovery of substrate
promiscuous natural product biosynthetic enzymes. In the genome of
the methanotrophic bacterium Methylovulum psychrotolerans Sph1T, we discover a transcriptionally silent natural
product BGC that encoded numerous ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally
modified peptide (RiPP) natural products. These cryptic RiPP natural
products were accessed using heterologous expression of the substrate
peptide and biosynthetic enzyme-encoded genes. In line with our genome
mining strategy, the RiPP biosynthetic enzymes in this BGC were found
to be substrate promiscuous, which allowed us to use them in a combinatorial
fashion with a similarly substrate-tolerant cyanobactin biosynthetic
enzyme to introduce head-to-tail macrocyclization in the proteusin
family of RiPP natural products.
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