Final Report Summary - PROSECMET (Function and production of secondary metabolites)
This was achieved initially mainly by the development of several molecular microbiology methods that allowed a "on-demand" production of the natural products based on a promoter exchange of the respective biosynthesis gene clusters. Later, this method was coupled to promoter exchange in hfq deletion mutants that hardly produced any NPs anymore and thus allowed a much simpler isolation of these NPs. These finding also connected the biology of small regulatory RNAs with classical NP research that might result in the creation of a new interdisciplinary research area.
During PROSECMET methods were developed that allow the simple modification of non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) with high efficiency. The newly identified molecular "Lego"-like assembly of these enzymes allows the production of completely new NPs that might in the future lead to the development of novel peptide based drugs.