The old is new again: Asparagine oxidation in calcuim-dependent antibiotic biosynthesis

Abstract

Non-ribosomal peptides are built from both proteinogenic and non-proteinogenic amino acids. The latter resemble amino acids but contain modifications not found in proteins. The recent characterization of a non-heme Fe2+ and α-ketoglutarate-dependent oxygenase that stereospecifically generates β-hydroxyasparagine, an unnatural amino acid building block for the biosynthesis of calcium-dependent antibiotic, a lipopeptide antibiotic. This work improves our understanding of how these non-proteinogenic amino acids are synthesized. © 2007 by American Chemical Society.