Lipopeptides, an Interesting Class of Microbial Secondary Metabolites

Abstract

Lipopeptides represent class of microbial secondary metabolites which attained scientific, therapeutical and biotechnological interest. A short survey is given on the structures and activities of some representative lipopeptides. The present knowledge on the biosynthesis of such compounds is reviewed. The biosynthesis of surfactin from B. subtilis ATCC 21332 was studied. An enzyme was isolated and highly purified from a cell-free extract of this organism which catalyzes ATP-Pi-exchange reactions mediated by the amino acid components of this lipopeptide. The observed activation pattern is consistent with a peptide synthesizing multienzyme which activates its substrate amino acids simultaneously as reactive aminoacyl phosphates.