Exploring the Tetracyclization of Teicoplanin Precursor Peptides through Chemoenzymatic Synthesis

The glycopeptide antibiotics (GPAs) serve as an important example of the interplay of two powerful enzymatic classes in secondary metabolism: the coupling of nonribosomal peptide synthesis with oxidative aromatic cross-linking performed by cytochrome P450 enzymes. This interplay is responsible for the generation of the highly cross-linked peptide aglycone at the core of this compound class that is required for antibiotic activity and, as such, serves as an important point for the exploration of chemoenzymatic routes to understand the selectivity and mechanism of this complex cascade. Here, we demonstrate the effective reconstitution of enzymatic tetracyclization of synthetic teicoplanin-derived heptapeptides and furthermore discern the importance of the OxyE enzyme in maintaining effective cyclization of such peptides bearing 3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine residues at position 3 in their structures. These results demonstrate the value of chemically synthesized probes for the elucidation of the enzyme mechanism underpinning the complex process of GPA cyclization and furthermore show the utility of the technique for probing the cyclization of non-natural GPA peptides by these powerful biosynthetic enzymes.