Biosynthetic mechanism of the yellow pigments in the marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. strain T1lg65

• Published in: Applied and environmental microbiology Vol. 90; no. 2; p. e0177923
• Main Authors: Ren, Yixuan, Liu, Ruoyu, Zheng, Yifan, Wang, Hang, Meng, Qiu, Zhu, Tingheng, Yin, Jianhua, Cao, Xueqiang, Yu, Zhiliang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Society for Microbiology 21.02.2024
• Subjects: Ammonia; Applied and Industrial Microbiology; Bacteria; Bioactive compounds; Biosynthesis; Bromination; Chemical synthesis; Environmental Microbiology; Flavin; Flavins - metabolism; Gene clusters; Gene deletion; Genetic analysis; Hydroxycinnamic acid; Lipopeptides - metabolism; Mangrove swamps; Metabolites; Molecular docking; Molecular Docking Simulation; Mutagenesis; p-Coumaric acid; Pigments; Precursors; Pseudoalteromonas; Pseudoalteromonas - genetics; Pseudoalteromonas - metabolism; Tyrosine; Tyrosine - metabolism; alterochromides; halogenation; Pseudoalteromonas; biosynthesis
• ISSN: 0099-2240; 1098-5336; 1098-5336
• DOI: 10.1128/aem.01779-23

The genus marine bacteria have attracted increasing interest because of their abilities to produce bioactive metabolites. The pigmented group encodes more secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) than the non-pigmented group. Here, we report a yellow pigmented bacterium sp. strain T1lg65, which was isolated from a mangrove forest sediment. We showed that the yellow pigments of T1lg65 belong to the group of lipopeptide alterochromides. Further genetic analyses of the alterochromide BGC revealed that the yellow pigments are biosynthesized by aryl-polyene synthases and nonribosomal peptide synthases. Within the gene cluster, encodes a tyrosine ammonia acid lyase, which catalyzes synthesis of the precursor 4-hydroxycinnamic acid (4-HCA) from tyrosine in the alterochromide biosynthetic pathway. In addition, , encoding a putative flavin-dependent halogenase, was proven to be responsible for the bromination of alterochromides based on gene deletion, molecular docking, and site mutagenesis analyses. In summary, the biosynthetic pathway, precursor synthesis, and bromination mechanism of the lipopeptide alterochromides were studied in-depth. Our results expand the knowledge on biosynthesis of pigments and could promote the development of active pigments in the future.IMPORTANCEThe marine bacteria spp. are important biological resources because they are producers of bioactive natural products, including antibiotics, pigments, enzymes, and antimicrobial peptides. One group of the microbial pigments, alterochromides, holds a great value for their novel lipopeptide structures and antimicrobial activities. Previous studies were limited to the structural characterization of alterochromides and genome mining for the alterochromide biosynthesis. This work focused on the biosynthetic mechanism for alterochromide production, especially revealing functions of two key genes within the gene cluster for the alterochromide biosynthesis. On the one hand, our study provides a target for metabolic engineering of the alterochromide biosynthesis; on the other hand, the 4-HCA synthase AltA and brominase AltN show potential in the biocatalyst industry.