Insect-associated bacteria assemble the antifungal butenolide gladiofungin by non-canonical polyketide chain termination.

Niehs SP, Kumpfmüller J, Dose B, Little RF, Ishida K, Florez LV, Kaltenpoth M, Hertweck C (2020) Insect-associated bacteria assemble the antifungal butenolide gladiofungin by non-canonical polyketide chain termination. Angew Chem Int Ed 59(51), 23122-23126.

Abstract

Genome mining of one of the protective symbionts ( Burkholderia gladioli ) of the invasive beetle Lagria villosa revealed a cryptic gene cluster coding for the biosynthesis of a novel antifungal polyketide with a glutarimide pharmacophore. Targeted gene inactivation, metabolic profiling and bioassays led to the discovery of the gladiofungins as yet overlooked components of the antimicrobial armory of the beetle symbiont, specifically against the entomopathogenic fungus Purpureocillium lilacinum . By mutational analyses, isotope labeling and in silico analyses of the modular polyketide synthase, we found that the rare butenolide moiety of gladiofungins derives from an unprecedented polyketide chain termination reaction involving a glycerol-derived C3 building block. The key role of an A-factor synthase (AfsA)-like offloading domain was corroborated by CRISPR-Cas-mediated gene editing, which facilitated the precise excision within a PKS domain.

Leibniz-HKI-Authors

Benjamin Dose
Christian Hertweck
Keishi Ishida
Jana Krabbe
Rory Little
Sarah Niehs

Identifier

doi: 10.1002/anie.202005711

PMID: 32588959