Ribosomal peptide natural products: bridging the ribosomal and nonribosomal worlds
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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Antimicrobial Peptides Produced by Selective Pressure Incorporation of Non-canonical Amino Acids
Published on: May 4, 2018
John A McIntosh1, Mohamed S Donia, Eric W Schmidt
1Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Utah, 30 South 2000 East Rm 201, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
Abstract:
Ribosomally synthesized bacterial natural products rival the nonribosomal peptides in their structural and functional diversity. The last decade has seen substantial progress in the identification and characterization of biosynthetic pathways leading to ribosomal peptide natural products with new and unusual structural motifs. In some of these cases, the motifs are similar to those found in nonribosomal peptides, and many are constructed by convergent or even paralogous enzymes. Here, we summarize the major structural and biosynthetic categories of ribosomally synthesized bacterial natural products and, where applicable, compare them to their homologs from nonribosomal biosynthesis.
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