The Desotamide Family of Antibiotics

• Main Authors: Asif Fazal, Michael E. Webb, Ryan F. Seipke
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-07-01
• Series: Antibiotics
• Subjects: natural products; non-ribosomal peptides; NRPS; standalone enzymes; cyclases
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6382/9/8/452

Microbial natural products underpin the majority of antimicrobial compounds in clinical use and the discovery of new effective antibacterial treatments is urgently required to combat growing antimicrobial resistance. Non-ribosomal peptides are a major class of natural products to which many notable antibiotics belong. Recently, a new family of non-ribosomal peptide antibiotics were discovered—the desotamide family. The desotamide family consists of desotamide, wollamide, surugamide, ulleungmycin and noursamycin/curacomycin, which are cyclic peptides ranging in size between six and ten amino acids in length. Their biosynthesis has attracted significant attention because their highly functionalised scaffolds are cyclised by a recently identified standalone cyclase. Here, we provide a concise review of the desotamide family of antibiotics with an emphasis on their biosynthesis.