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Plant Cyclic Peptide Biosynthesis Preprint

Check out our first paper up on biorXiv now!

Widely Distributed Biosynthetic Cassette Is Responsible for Diverse Plant Side-Chain-Cross-Linked Cyclopeptides

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.15.507631v1

Plant side-chain cross-linked cyclopeptides are an abundant class of natural products with diverse bioactivities. We uncover a conserved biosynthetic cassette found across eudicots responsible for multiple classes of these cyclic plant peptides. We directly link cyclopeptide alkaloids and hibispeptins to stand alone RiPP precursor peptides found adjacent to predicted tailoring enzymes. This parallels, but is distinct from, the known autocatalytic system responsible for other many other cyclic peptides, such as lyciumins. We use these insights to discover a brand new side-chain cross-linked cyclopeptide from everyone’s favorite plant Coffea arabica. We named it arabipeptin A.

Congrats to Stella, Ethan,  Brigitte, Tyler, Cody, and Imani for all your hard work on this project!