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J. Bacteriol. doi:10.1128/JB.01850-06
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Characterisation of NsPPT, a cyanobacterial phosphopantetheinyl transferase from Nodularia spumigena NSOR10

Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington 2052, Sydney, Australia; Fachbereich Chemie, Philipps-Universität, Marburg, Germany

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: b.neilan{at}unsw.edu.au.

	Abstract

Phosphopantetheinyl transferases (PPTs) are a superfamily of essential enzymes required for the synthesis of a wide range of compounds including fatty acids, polyketides and non-ribosomal peptide metabolites. These enzymes activate carrier proteins within specific biosynthetic pathways by the transfer of a phosphopantetheinyl moiety. The diverse superfamily of phosphopantetheinyl transferases (PPTs) can be divided into two families according to specificity and conserved sequence motifs. The first family is typified by the Escherichia coli acyl carrier protein synthase (AcpS), which acts in fatty acid synthesis (FAS). The prototype of the second family is the broad substrate range PPT Sfp, required for surfactin biosynthesis in Bacillus subtilis. Most cyanobacteria do not encode an AcpS-like PPT and furthermore, some of their Sfp-like PPTs occupy a unique phylogenetic subgroup defined by the PPTs involved in heterocyst differentiation. Here, we present the first functional characterisation of a cyanobacterial PPT by structural and subsequent functional analysis of the Nodularia spumigena NSOR10 PPT. Southern hybridisations suggested this may be the only PPT encoded within the N. spumigena NSOR10 genome. Expression and enzyme characterisation showed that this PPT was capable of modifying carrier proteins from both heterocyst glycoplipid and nodularin toxin synthesis. Cyanobacteria present a unique and vast source of bioactive metabolites, therefore an understanding of cyanobacterial PPTs is important in order to harness the biotechnological potential of cyanobacterial natural products.