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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2009, p. 1381-1387, Vol. 75, No. 5
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01864-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Oxidation of Lanthionines Renders the Lantibiotic Nisin Inactive{triangledown}

Shawanda Wilson-Stanford,1 Anastasia Kalli,2 Kristina Håkansson,2 James Kastrantas,1 Ravi S. Orugunty,3 and Leif Smith1*

Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi 39762,1 Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, 930 North University Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1055,2 Mass Spectrometry Center, ThermoFisher Scientific, West Palm Beach, Florida 334073

Received 11 August 2008/ Accepted 22 December 2008

The peptide antibiotic nisin A belongs to the group of antibiotics called lantibiotics. They are classified as lantibiotics because they contain the structural group lanthionine. Lanthionines are composed of a single sulfur atom that is linked to the β-carbons of two alanine moieties. These sulfur atoms are vulnerable to environmental oxidation. A mild oxidation reaction was performed on nisin A to determine the relative effects it would have on bioactivity. High-mass-accuracy Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry data revealed the addition of seven, eight, and nine oxygens. These additions correspond to the five lanthionines, two methionines, and two histidines that would be susceptible to oxidation. Subsequent bioassays revealed that the oxidized form of nisin A had a complete loss of bactericidal activity. In a competition study, the oxidized nisin did not appear to have an antagonistic affect on the bioactivity of nisin A, since the addition of an equal molar concentration of the oxidized variant did not have an influence on the bactericidal activity of the native antibiotic. Electron microscopy data revealed that the oxidized forms were still capable of assembling into large circular complexes, demonstrating that oxidation does not disrupt the lateral assembly mechanism of the antibiotic. Affinity thin-layer chromatography and fluorescence microscopy experiments suggested that the loss of activity is due to the inability of the oxidized form of nisin to bind to the cell wall precursor lipid II. Given the loss of bioactivity following oxidation, oxidation should be an important factor to consider in future production, purification, pharmacokinetic, and pharmacodynamic studies.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762. Phone: (662) 325-1244. Fax: (662) 325-7939. E-mail: jls859{at}msstate.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 29 December 2008.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2009, p. 1381-1387, Vol. 75, No. 5
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01864-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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