"Science": This dangerous bacteria can use copper to produce antibiotics

▎WuXi AppTec Content Team Editor For organisms, copper is a double-edged sword: a trace amount of copper is an important nutrient, but if copper is excessive, it will be toxic to organisms
.

Some microbes have evolved a way to use copper: it can bind to biomolecules in their bodies, be absorbed as a nutrient, or be neutralized by biomolecules for toxicity
.

One such microorganism is Pseudomonas aeruginosa
.

The bacteria, which live in soil, water and human skin, can cause deadly infections in hospitalized and immunocompromised people
.

Previous studies have found that Pseudomonas aeruginosa can tolerate high concentrations of copper, so the researchers speculated that the bacteria may be able to synthesize complexes that bind copper ions to resist excess copper
.

In a study published in Science, a team of researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of California, Davis revealed how this bacterium uses copper to make an antibiotic called fluopsin C
.

Microbes make antibiotics to compete with other organisms, and many of the resulting antibiotics are used by us to treat bacterial infections
.

fluopsin C was isolated from some bacteria in 1970
.

As a broad-spectrum antibiotic, fluopsin C kills a variety of bacteria and fungi, including some resistant strains
.

However, the process by which bacteria produce fluopsin C remains unknown.

.

To this end, the team of Professor Bo Li from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the corresponding author of the latest paper, conducted research using laboratory-grown Pseudomonas aeruginosa to find the pathway for the bacterium to synthesize fluopsin
C.

They found that P.
aeruginosa uses five enzymes to synthesize fluopsin C: two lyases, two iron-dependent enzymes, and one methyltransferase
.

Each fluopsin C molecule binds a copper ion that is chelated with two thiohydroxamates
.

▲Confirming the gene cluster of fluopsin C (Image source: Reference [1]) Subsequently, the research team used electron paramagnetic resonance technology (commonly used to study metals in organic molecules) to deeply analyze the structure of fluopsin
C.

They found that fluopsin C is a mixture of cis and trans isomers
.

▲Professor Li Bo led the study (Image credit: Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill) "Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses copper to synthesize antibiotics differently than most organisms, most of which either isolate copper from cells, Or transport it out of the cell," said Professor Bo Li.
"This study helps us understand how this pathogenic bacteria uses copper to outcompete other microbes and drive the emergence of new treatments
.

"Reference: [1] Jon B.
Patteson et al.
, Biosynthesis of fluopsin C, a copper-containing antibiotic from Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Science (2021) .
https:// abj6749[2] Researchers identify how bacteria make copper into an antibiotic.
Retrieved Nov.
30, 2021, from https://chem.
unc.
edu/news/researchers-identify-how-bacteria-make-copper-into-an- antibiotic/