title: Suppression of linear side products by macromolecular crowding in nonribosomal enterobactin biosynthesis.
abstract: Nonribosomal enterobactin synthetase of Escherichia coli was found to prematurely release a large amount of linear precursors in an in vitro reconstitution. However, these side products are suppressed to negligible levels by polymeric cosolvents that create macromolecular crowding, a prominent feature of the intracellular environment. These findings show that macromolecular crowding is essential to normal functioning of the nonribosomal peptide synthetase and suggest that it may be crucial to biotechnological utilization of similar enzyme systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Center for Cancer Research, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Zu-Feng
authors.initials: ZF
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Suilan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Zhihong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D004758:Enterobactin / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008025:Ligases / Q000378:metabolism*; D008954:Models, Biological; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes; D004758:Enterobactin; D008025:Ligases; C066234:enterobactin synthetase