title: A putative enolpyruvyl transferase gene involved in nikkomycin biosynthesis.
abstract: The nikO gene encoding a putative enolpyruvyl transferase has been identified within the Streptomyces tendae Tü901/8c nikkomycin gene cluster. nikO encodes a deduced protein of 471 amino acid residues which exhibits significant sequence similarity to UDP-N-acetylglucosamine enolpyruvyl transferase and 5-enol-pyruvylshikimate 3-phosphate synthase from various origin. The nikO gene was inactivated by inserting a kanamycin resistance cassette; the mutant did not produce biologically active nikkomycins I, J, X, and Z nor the nucleoside moieties, nikkomycins C(x) and C(z), but accumulated the novel component RT 2.0. RT 2.0 has been isolated from culture filtrate and its structure was determined by using mass spectrometry and NMR analyses as ribofuranosyl-4-formyl-4-imidazolone which represents a novel nucleoside. The putative activity of the nikO gene product in nikkomycin biosynthesis will be discussed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biology II, Microbiology/Biotechnology, University of Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lauer
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Süssmuth
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kaiser
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bormann
mesh_terms: D019883:Alkyl and Aryl Transferases / Q000235:genetics*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000617:Aminoglycosides; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D008967:Molecular Biology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010957:Plasmids / Q000378:metabolism*; D013302:Streptomyces / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000617:Aminoglycosides; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000935:Antifungal Agents; C011952:nikkomycin; D019883:Alkyl and Aryl Transferases; C022566:UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 1-carboxyvinyltransferase