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Prof Greg Challis and Dr Lijiang Song, in collaboration with researchers at the John Innes Centre, report in Chemical Science that a remarkable array of novel posttranslational modifications, including methylation of the unactivated beta-carbon atoms of several amino acid residues and macrolactamidine formation, is involved in the assembly of the bottromycin complex of antibiotics from a ribosomally-biosynthesised precursor. The bottromycins are potent antibiotics with activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Understanding how the bottomycins are biosynthesised could facilitate rational manipulation of the process to produce novel bottromycin analogues with improved activity against MRSA and VRE. Further details can be found at http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2012/SC/C2SC21183A.