UCLA

A new tRNA-dependent arginine-containing cyclodipeptide synthase (RCDPS) and its corresponding biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) were discovered and this study serves as a continuation of previous work by Yee et al. RCDPS homologs are widely contained in fungal genomes and are known to make known (biosynthetic route)-unknown (molecular structure) natural products. The homologs were collected in a phylogenetic tree and selected candidates were tested to see similarities and differences among them. In this work, RCDPS candidates from the phylogenetic tree from E. shearii and its BGC, A. pseudofelis, P. thomii R-89 A. sublimbata, and A. carthami were studied. Among the candidates studied, RCDPS from E. shearii, A. sublimbata and A. carthami were shown to have novel non-specific activity, producing multiple arginine-containing cyclodipeptides.