The antibiotic lysolipin, which was isolated in Tübingen in 1975 by Hans Zähner's group, is a potent antimicrobial and anti-tumor agent.

The molecular target of this molecule is not yet clearly identified. There are strong indications, that lysolipin interacts with components of the bacterial cell envelope.

The lysolipin molecule is a large aromatic polykeitide. The chemical structure and isotope feeding studies indicate an extensive degree of post-PKS oxidative modification. (Actually, lysolipin is one of the most heavenly oxidized secondary metabolites known so far).These modifications include the formation of a xanthone structure which is rarely observed in natural products of bacterial origin.

The biosynthesis gene cluster of lysolipin was isolated in previous studies in our group by P. Lopez (Lopez et al., 2010, Gene 461: 5-14). Beside enzymes involved in type II polyketide biosynthesis, a high number of enzymes involved in redox-processes were identified in the cluster. This correlates perfectly with the chemical structure of the molecule.

In addition to aspects on lysolipin biosynthesis, we also are interested on the impact of lysolipin production on the producer and its environment

People

• Sabrina Rohrer
• Tilmann Weber

This work is carried out in the DFG Graduate GRK 1708 "Molecular principles of bacterial survival strategies"