The nisin-lipid II complex reveals a pyrophosphate cage that provides a blueprint for novel antibiotics

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Abstract:

The emerging antibiotics-resistance problem has underlined the urgent need for novel antimicrobial agents. Lantibiotics (lanthionine-containing antibiotics) are promising candidates to alleviate this problem. Nisin, a member of this family, has a unique pore-forming activity against bacteria. It binds to lipid II, the essential precursor of cell wall synthesis. As a result, the membrane permeabilization activity of nisin is increased by three orders of magnitude. Here we report the solution structure of the complex of nisin and lipid II. The structure shows a novel lipid II-binding motif in which the pyrophosphate moiety of lipid II is primarily coordinated by the N-terminal backbone amides of nisin via intermolecular hydrogen bonds. This cage structure provides a rationale for the conservation of the lanthionine rings among several lipid II-binding lantibiotics. The structure of the pyrophosphate cage offers a template for structure-based design of novel antibiotics

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DA - 20040928
IS - 1545-9993 (Print)
LA - eng
PT - Journal Article
PT - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
RN - 0 (Anti-Bacterial Agents)
RN - 0 (Diphosphates)
RN - 1414-45-5 (Nisin)
SB - IM