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Pantocin A, a peptide-derived antibiotic involved in biological control by plant-associated Pantoea species

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Abstract

The genus Pantoea contains a broad range of plant-associated bacteria, including some economically important plant pathogens as well as some beneficial members effective as biological control agents of plant pathogens. The most well-characterized representatives of biological control agents from this genus generally produce one or more antimicrobial compounds adding to biocontrol efficacy. Some Pantoea species evaluated as biocontrol agents for fire blight disease of apple and pear produce a histidine-reversible antibiotic. Three commonly studied histidine-reversible antibiotics produced by Pantoea spp. are herbicolin O, MccEh252, and pantocin A. Pantocin A is a novel ribosomally encoded and post-translationally modified peptide natural product. Here, we review the current knowledge on the chemistry, genetics, biosynthesis, and incidence and environmental relevance of pantocin A and related histidine-reversible antibiotics produced by Pantoea.

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Fig. 1

Picture adapted from Ghodge et al. (2016)

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Acknowledgements

T.H.M.S. was supported by the ZHAW School of Life Sciences and Facility Management. V.O.S. was supported in part by the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service and the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program Grant No. 2012-67013-19392 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Research Group, Institute for Natural Resource Sciences, Zürich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW, Wädenswil, Switzerland

    Theo H. M. Smits & Brion Duffy

  2. Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, Justus-Liebig-Universität, Giessen, Germany

    Jochen Blom

  3. Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Carol A. Ishimaru

  4. United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Horticultural Crops Research Unit, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Virginia O. Stockwell

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  1. Theo H. M. Smits
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Correspondence to Theo H. M. Smits.

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Communicated by Matthias Boll.

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Smits, T.H.M., Duffy, B., Blom, J. et al. Pantocin A, a peptide-derived antibiotic involved in biological control by plant-associated Pantoea species. Arch Microbiol 201, 713–722 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-019-01647-7

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