Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Briefing
  • Published:

High-throughput engineering of biosynthetic assembly lines

Subjects

Nonribosomal peptide synthetases produce diverse natural products, including many valuable therapeutics. Although the condensation domains that catalyze peptide bond formation in these multifunctional enzymes have been difficult to engineer, a yeast display system that was developed to screen millions of variants now enables efficient reprogramming of synthetase substrate specificity.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: NRPS-catalyzed peptide elongation on the surface of yeast.

References

  1. Süssmuth, R. D. & Mainz, A. Nonribosomal peptide synthesis—principles and prospects. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 56, 3770–3821 (2017). A review article that provides a general overview of NRPS chemistry.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Bloudoff, K. & Schmeing, T. M. Structural and functional aspects of the nonribosomal peptide synthetase condensation domain superfamily: Discovery, dissection and diversity. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1865, 1587–1604 (2017). This review article summarizes what is known about NRPS condensation domains.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Zhang, K. et al. Engineering the substrate specificity of the DhbE adenylation domain by yeast cell surface display. Chem. Biol. 20, 92–101 (2013). This paper reports the display of an NRPS adenylation domain on yeast.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Niquille, D. L. et al. Nonribosomal biosynthesis of backbone-modified peptides. Nat. Chem. 10, 282–287 (2018). This paper describes a high-throughput catalytic assay for tailoring the substrate specificity of NRPS adenylation domains.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Kolb, H. C., Finn, M. G. & Sharpless, K. B. Click chemistry: diverse chemical function from a few good reactions. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 40, 2004–2021 (2001). This review article outlines the principles of click chemistry.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Folger, I. B. et al. High-throughput reprogramming of an NRPS condensation domain. Nat. Chem. Biol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-023-01532-x (2024).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

High-throughput engineering of biosynthetic assembly lines. Nat Chem Biol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-024-01564-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-024-01564-x

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing