title: Expression of the lantibiotic mersacidin in Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB42.
abstract: Lantibiotics are small peptide antibiotics that contain the characteristic thioether amino acids lanthionine and methyllanthionine. As ribosomally synthesized peptides, lantibiotics possess biosynthetic gene clusters which contain the structural gene (lanA) as well as the other genes which are involved in lantibiotic modification (lanM, lanB, lanC, lanP), regulation (lanR, lanK), export (lanT(P)) and immunity (lanEFG). The lantibiotic mersacidin is produced by Bacillus sp. HIL Y-85,54728, which is not naturally competent.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The aim of these studies was to test if the production of mersacidin could be transferred to a naturally competent Bacillus strain employing genomic DNA of the producer strain. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB42 was chosen for these experiments because it already harbors the mersacidin immunity genes. After transfer of the biosynthetic part of the gene cluster by competence transformation, production of active mersacidin was obtained from a plasmid in trans. Furthermore, comparison of several DNA sequences and biochemical testing of B. amyloliquefaciens FZB42 and B. sp. HIL Y-85,54728 showed that the producer strain of mersacidin is a member of the species B. amyloliquefaciens.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The lantibiotic mersacidin can be produced in B. amyloliquefaciens FZB42, which is closely related to the wild type producer strain of mersacidin. The new mersacidin producer strain enables us to use the full potential of the biosynthetic gene cluster for genetic manipulation and downstream modification approaches.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Anna Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Herzner
authors.forename: Jasmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dischinger
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Szekat
authors.forename: Michaele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Josten
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schmitz
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yakéléba
authors.forename: Ricarda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Reinartz
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.forename: Hans-Georg
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Sahl
authors.forename: Jörn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piel
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bierbaum
mesh_terms: D001407:Bacillus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D001430:Bacteriocins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D027081:DNA Gyrase / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000235:genetics; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D010802:Phylogeny; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
chemical_list: D001430:Bacteriocins; D010455:Peptides; C069959:mersacidin; D027081:DNA Gyrase