MbtH-like proteins as integral components of bacterial nonribosomal peptide synthetases

The biosynthesis of many natural products of clinical interest involves large, multi-domain enzymes called nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs). In bacteria, many of the gene clusters coding for NRPSs also code for a member of the MbtH-like protein superfamily, which are small proteins of unknown function. Using MbtH-like proteins from three separate NRPS systems, we show that these proteins co-purify together with the NRPSs and influence amino acid activation. As a consequence, MbtH-like proteins are integral components of NRPSs.