On the presence of pantothenic acid in the three complementary enzymes of bacitracin synthetase

Genetics of antibiotic production.

“…The minimum number of gene products can be estimated. For example, for tyrocidine the three subunits contain one, three, and six proteins that bind amino acids, and in addition the two larger subunits have a small binding protein for phosphopantotheine, which plays a key role in peptide bond formation at each step in the synthesis (171, 180) (this is probably also true for bacitracin [247]), making about 12 gene products. Biochemical analysis of blocked mutants is proceeding, particularly for gramicidin S. Two Japanese groups have described series of such mutants.…”

Actinomycin Biosynthesis by Protoplasts Derived from Streptomyces parvulus

“…The mechanism of nonribosomal, protein thiotemplate synthesis of peptide antibiotics, first established for the biosynthesis of gramicidin S and tyrocidine (26,27), appears also to be the mechanism by which bacitracin (11,33), edeine (25), and linear gramicidin (1, 3) are formed. In the case of a number ofother peptide antibiotics, the use of inhibitors in vivo has shown that the mechanisms of protein and antibiotic syntheses differ (21), but further insight has been precluded by the difficulty in obtaining cell-free systems that will produce the antibiotics.…”