Identification and isolation of lantibiotics from culture: a bioorthogonal chemistry approach?

Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry Pub Date: 2012-09-11 DOI: 10.1039/C2OB26050F

Abstract

A distinguishing feature of the lantibiotic family of cyclic peptides is the presence of thioethers. Treatment of a lantibiotic with an alkaline solution at high pH gives rise to a β-elimination reaction yielding the corresponding ring opened precursor, containing a dehydro-amino acid residue. We here reveal in a proof-of-concept study that a ring opened lantibiotic (mersacidin) can be captured for pull-down from a culture broth, subsequently released and identified by mass spectrometry.

Graphical abstract: Identification and isolation of lantibiotics from culture: a bioorthogonal chemistry approach
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