Isolation and structural characterization of epilancin 15X, a novel lantibiotic from a clinical strain of Staphylococcus epidermidis

• Published in: FEBS letters Vol. 579; no. 9; pp. 1917 - 1922
• Main Authors: Ekkelenkamp, Miquel B., Hanssen, Micha, Danny Hsu, Shang-Te, de Jong, Ad, Milatovic, Dana, Verhoef, Jan, van Nuland, Nico A.J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier B.V 28.03.2005
• Subjects: 3-methyllanthionine; Amino Acid Sequence; Anti-Bacterial Agents - chemistry; Anti-Bacterial Agents - isolation & purification; Antibacterial peptides; Bacteriocins; dehydroalanine; dehydrobutyrine; Dha; Dhb; heteronuclear multiple bond correlation; heteronuclear single-quantum correlation; HMBC; Hop; HSQC; hydroxy-propionyl; Lan; lanthionine; Lantibiotics; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Mass spectrometry; MeLan; Molecular Sequence Data; MS/MS; NMR; NOESY; Nuclear magnetic resonance; nuclear Overhauser enhancement spectroscopy; Peptides - chemistry; Peptides - isolation & purification; Primary sequence determination; Protein Processing, Post-Translational; Protein Structure, Tertiary; Staphylococcus epidermidis; Staphylococcus epidermidis - metabolism; tandem mass spectrometry; TOCSY; total correlation spectroscopy; MS; HMBC; Hop; TOCSY; Lantibiotics; MS/MS; MeLan; Antibacterial peptides; NMR; Staphylococcus epidermidis; Primary sequence determination; Lan; NOESY; Nuclear magnetic resonance; HSQC; Dha; Mass spectrometry; Dhb
• ISSN: 0014-5793; 1873-3468
• DOI: 10.1016/j.febslet.2005.01.083

The potential application of lantibiotics as food-preserving agents and more recently as antibiotics has strongly increased the interest in these antibacterial peptides. Here, we report the elucidation of the primary and three-dimensional structures of the novel lantibiotic epilancin 15X from Staphylococcus epidermidis using high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and tandem mass spectrometry. The molecule contains ten post-translationally modified amino acids, three lanthionine ring structures and a hydroxy-propionyl N-terminal moiety. The primary and tertiary structure and the distribution of positive charges are closely similar to the previously identified lantibiotic epilancin K7, most likely indicative of a common mode of action.