Recognition of acyl carrier proteins by ketoreductases in assembly line polyketide synthases
The Journal of Antibiotics advance online publication, April 27 2016. doi:10.1038/ja.2016.41
Authors: Matthew P Ostrowski, David E Cane & Chaitan Khosla
Synthesis and antibacterial activity of novel 11-[3-[(arylcarbamoyl)oxy]propylamino]-11-deoxy-6-O-methyl-3-oxoerythromycin A 11-N,12-O-cyclic carbamate derivatives
The Journal of Antibiotics advance online publication, April 27 2016. doi:10.1038/ja.2016.42
Authors: Zhonghui Zheng, Deping Du, Lili Cao, Jun Liu & Xiaofang Chen
The oxa23 gene encoding the OXA-23 carbapenemase (and several minor variants of it) is widespread in Acinetobacter baumannii clinical isolates and compromises treatment with carbapenem antibiotics. The gene is derived from the chromosome of Acinetobacter radioresistens where it is an intrinsic gene, here designated oxaAr. In A. baumannii and other Acinetobacter species, oxa23 is usually preceded by an IS, ISAba1, which supplies the strong promoter required for the gene to confer clinically relevant levels of resistance. The oxaAr gene appears to have been mobilized twice creating Tn2008 and Tn2008B, both of which consist of a single ISAba1 and an A. radioresistens-derived fragment. Tn2006 and Tn2009 are clearly derived from Tn2008B and are each made up of Tn2008B with an additional segment of unknown origin and an additional ISAba1, creating a compound transposon. Tn2006, Tn2008 and possibly Tn2008B are globally disseminated, while Tn2009 has as yet only been found in China. Of the four ISAba1-associated transposons, Tn2006 has been most frequently observed worldwide and Tn2006 in Tn6022, known as AbaR4, appears to contribute significantly to the dissemination of oxa23. Moreover, AbaR4, Tn2006, Tn2008 and Tn2009 have each been found in conjugative plasmids, further facilitating their spread.
General base-general acid catalysis by terpenoid cyclases
The Journal of Antibiotics advance online publication, April 13 2016. doi:10.1038/ja.2016.39
Authors: Travis A Pemberton & David W Christianson
Genome mining of the sordarin biosynthetic gene cluster from Sordaria araneosa Cain ATCC 36386: characterization of cycloaraneosene synthase and GDP-6-deoxyaltrose transferase
The Journal of Antibiotics advance online publication, April 13 2016. doi:10.1038/ja.2016.40
Authors: Fumitaka Kudo, Yasunori Matsuura, Takaaki Hayashi, Masayuki Fukushima & Tadashi Eguchi
Frog skin cultures secrete anti-yellow fever compounds
The Journal of Antibiotics advance online publication, April 6 2016. doi:10.1038/ja.2016.16
Authors: Carolina Muñoz-Camargo, Margarita Correa Méndez, Vivian Salazar, Johanna Moscoso, Diana Narváez, Maria Mercedes Torres, Franz Kaston Florez, Helena Groot & Eduardo Mitrani
Inhibition of bacterial undecaprenyl pyrophosphate synthase by small fungal molecules
The Journal of Antibiotics advance online publication, April 6 2016. doi:10.1038/ja.2016.35
Authors: Junji Inokoshi, Yuichiro Nakamura, Saori Komada, Katsuichiro Komatsu, Hideaki Umeyama & Hiroshi Tomoda
