title: Genome mining unveils widespread natural product biosynthetic capacity in human oral microbe Streptococcus mutans.
abstract: Streptococcus mutans is a major pathogen causing human dental caries. As a Gram-positive bacterium with a small genome (about 2 Mb) it is considered a poor source of natural products. Due to a recent explosion in genomic data available for S. mutans strains, we were motivated to explore the natural product production potential of this organism. Bioinformatic characterization of 169 publically available genomes of S. mutans from human dental caries revealed a surprisingly rich source of natural product biosynthetic gene clusters. Anti-SMASH analysis identified one nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) gene cluster, seven polyketide synthase (PKS) gene clusters and 136 hybrid PKS/NRPS gene clusters. In addition, 211 ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) clusters and 615 bacteriocin precursors were identified by a combined analysis using BAGEL and anti-SMASH. S. mutans harbors a rich and diverse natural product genetic capacity, which underscores the importance of probing the human microbiome and revisiting species that have traditionally been overlooked as "poor" sources of natural products.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors.forename: Liwei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors.forename: Zhoujie
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, N2L3C5, Canada.
authors.forename: Geoff P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Horsman
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
authors.forename: Yihua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001430:Bacteriocins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D001688:Biological Products / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D053898:Biosynthetic Pathways / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D057225:Data Mining; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D009055:Mouth / Q000382:microbiology*; D005810:Multigene Family; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013295:Streptococcus mutans / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D013720:Tenuazonic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D001430:Bacteriocins; D001688:Biological Products; C416127:reutericyclin; D013720:Tenuazonic Acid