How Microbes Make Drug-like Molecules

Many life-saving drugs come from natural sources such as microbes. Learning how host organisms produce these drugs is an area of intense interest because scientists could exploit the pathways to produce more and better drug variants. Schmidt and colleagues have elucidated the mechanisms by which microbes produce one class of drug-like molecules, the Ribosomally-synthesized and Post-translationally modified Peptides (RiPPs). Bioactive RiPPs are produced from a precursor peptide, which is modified by enzymes. The research group identified specific biosynthetic pathways that produce such discrete natural product compounds, which have potential as human therapeutics. These discoveries demonstrate how modern metagenomic methods can elucidate the vast repertoire of natural products that were inaccessible using traditional isolation methods. The insights now influence how other investigators in the natural products field tailor their investigations to discover novel drugs as potential lead therapeutics.