ARE subfamily proteins belonging to ABC transporters confers a different degree of resistance to macrolides, linkosamides and streptogramins antibiotics. Among the most clinically ARE subfamily proteins in staphylococci is Vga(A) protein lead to the award resistance to streptogtramins A. In 2006, discovered the new variant called the Vga(A)LC, which in addition to streptogramins A resistance also confers linkosamides. Vga(A) and Vga(A)LC differ in only 7 amino acids, yet confer different resistance phenotypes. In previous experiments it was found that the central role in determining substrate specificity play a 4 amino acid differences that accumulate in the section of 15 amino acids within the linker connecting the two ABC domains (positions 212, 219, 220 and 226). The combination of amino acids LGAG Vga(A) increases resistance to streptogramins A while present in combination SVTS Vga(A)LC increased resistance to linkosamides. Although in this subfamily includes a large number of resistance proteins, the mechanism of resistance has not yet been established with certainty. The aim was to create a new Vga(A) variants that contain specific combinations of amino acids for Vga(A) and Vga(A)LC protein at positions 212, 219, 220 and 226 and compared their ability to grant resistance to linkosamides. We also...

Specialized microbial metabolites are described as low-molecular-weight bioactive compounds, which are dispensable for the growth, evolution, or reproduction of its producer. This group of substances includes the lincosamides, which are produced mainly by the bacteria of the Streptomyces genera. Apart from other precursors, two low-molecular-weight thiols, ergothioneine and mycothiol, are essential participants of the lincosamide biosynthesis. Mycothiol (MSH) serves in this pathway as a source of sulphur, on the other hand, ergothioneine (ESH) constitutes a conjugate with the aminosugar moiety of lincosamide structure. The conjugate is condensed with an activated amino acid, which is catalyzed by an unusual enzyme to form a core of the lincosamide molecule. The objective of this diploma thesis is to isolate the conjugate of ESH and aminooctose, which serves as a substrate of the LmbD biosynthetic protein. Another aim is to study the links between the thiol metabolism and the biosynthesis of three lincosamides, lincomycin, celesticetin, and intervencin, which are produced by different bacterial strains. Bacterial strains were cultivated under laboratory conditions and methods of liquid chromatography with UV and MS detection were used for the analysis. The parameters of the methods were developed...

Lincosamides form a small but important group of specialized microbial metabolites with antibiotic activity. The most important members of this group are celesticetin and clinically used lincomycin. Structurally, lincosamides are composed of an amino sugar and an amino acid connected by an amide bond. The amino acid precursors of both lincosamides remarkably differ. Proteinogenic L-proline is the precursor of celesticetin, while an unusual amino acid (2S,4R)-4-propyl- L-proline (PPL) is incorporated in the more efficient compound lincomycin. Surprisingly, both these precursors are recognized and activated for further biosynthetic steps by homologous adenylation domains CcbC and LmbC, respectively. The detailed description of this amino acid recognition and activation step, which is critical for the biological activity of the resulting compound, was the aim of the first part of this thesis. The site-directed mutagenesis of the LmbC substrate binding pocket and biochemical characterization of resulting mutants were employed to identify the residues crucial for the activation of PPL. Subsequently, we experimentally simulated the molecular evolution leading from L-proline-specific substrate binding pocket (like in CcbC) to the PPL-specific enzyme (LmbC). The substitution of only three amino acid...

The crucial part of the biosynthesis of lincosamide antibiotics lincomycin and celesticetin is the condensation of amino sugar and amino acid moieties. This reaction is catalysed by the oligomeric enzyme lincosamide synthetase (LS). One of the most important components of LS is adenylation domain recognizing and activating amino acid precursor. The substrate specificity of adenylation domain is determined by "nonribosomal code", 10 amino acids residues which side chains are in close contact with the activated substrate. The homologous adenylation domains LmbC from biosynthesis of lincomycin and CcbC from biosynthesis of celesticetin exhibit strong substrate specificity for their natural substrates (2S,4R)-4-propyl-L-proline (PPL) and L-proline, respectively. At first the effect of selected amino acid residues of LmbC nonribosomal code on the substrate specificity of the whole domain was tested. The amino acids residues, most important for preference of PPL substrate over L proline, were determined: G308, A207 and L246. Then the effect of double mutations in nonribosomal codes of both LmbC and CcbC on their substrate specificity was evaluated. The double mutants LmbC G308V + A207F and CcbC V306G + F205A were prepared and tested biochemically. The results brought new evidence of validity of homologous models...

Lincomycin is an antibiotic used in clinical praxis. It is produced by Streptomyces lincolnensis. Lincomycin is composed of an amino-sugar and an amino-acid moiety linked by an amide bond. The amino-acid precursor is propylproline (PPL), whose biosynthesis undergoes the pathway derived from tyrosine. The modified PPL biosynthesis pathway was also discovered in pyrrolobenzodiazepines (PBD) and hormaomycin. In the biosynthesis of PBD the PPL precursor is further modified by reactions catalysed by specific enzymes missing in the biosynthesis of lincomycin. The genes encoding these enzymes could be transferred to the lincomycin biosynthetic gene cluster. In this way we could get producers of hybrid antibiotics with better properties and even antimalaric effects. Six enzymes participate in PPL biosynthesis, which are encoded in the lincomycin biosynthetic gene cluster. The first two reactions of PPL biosynthesis pathway are proven, therefore, this work focuses on the third reaction that is supposed to be catalysed by protein LmbX according to literature. The proposed function of LmbX is a hydrolysis of C-C bond. However, LmbX belongs to the protein family of isomerases by sequence homology. The protein LmbX was overproduced in this work and its activity was tested in the presence of the expected...

Protein Vga(A) gives staphylococci resistance to streptogramins A. The recently discovered protein Vga(A)LC differs from Vga(A) only by 7 amino acid residues, but this difference is sufficient for shift of its substrate specificity towards lincosamides. The group of four amino acids in the central part of protein (LGAG in Vga(A) and SVTS in Vga(A)LC) was detected to be crucial for the substrate specificity. In this diploma thesis 5 alternativesets of vga(A)LC gene point mutations were prepared in order to determine the impact of individual amino acids of the aforementioned group on the resistance phenotype. Mutations were prepared in vector pGEM® -T and cloned into shuttle vector pRB374. The prepared constructs were transformed by electroporation into the sensitive strain of Staphylococcus aureus RN4220 and values of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) were measured for lincomycin, clindamycin and pristinamycin IIA by the agar dilution method. The transformation was not successful in one of the mutations. Results of setting MIC for the remaining four mutations do not make it possible to specify uniquely the ratio of individual amino acids for determining substrate specificity. Two of the amino acids were found to be important. We anticipate preparation of more mutations.

The staphylococcal protein VgaA belongs to ARE ABCF family, which confers resistance to ribosome binding antibiotics by the target protection mechanism. VgaA confers resistance to lincosamides, streptogramins A and pleuromutilins and thus provides the so-called LSAP resistance phenotype. The expression of resistance genes often reduces fitness in the absence of an antibiotic, therefore the expression of resistance genes is often tightly controlled and triggered only in response to the presence of an antibiotic to which the protein confers resistance. The inducible expression has also been observed for the vgaA gene, nevertheless, its mechanism has not been elucidated. In the diploma thesis, it was shown that the vgaALC gene from Staphylococcus haemolyticus is regulated by ribosome-mediated attenuation. The mechanism is based on the detection of translation inhibitors via a ribosome translating a special regulatory open reading frame (uORF), which is part of an attenuator located in the 5' untranslated region of the mRNA. The vgaALC gene is regulated at the transcriptional level in response to LSAP antibiotics. Antibiotic specificity of induction is affected not only by the nature of the peptide encoded by uORF but also by the antibiotic specificity of the resistance protein. Fluorescence microscopy...