Lanthipeptides are a large group of ribosomally encoded peptides cyclized by thioether and methylene bridges, which include the lantibiotics, lanthipeptides with antimicrobial activity. There are over 100 experimentally characterized lanthipeptides, with at least 25 distinct cyclization bridging patterns. We set out to understand the evolutionary dynamics and diversity of lanthipeptides. We identified 977 peptides in 2785 bacterial genomes from short open-reading frames encoding lanthipeptide modifiable amino acids (C, S and T) that lay chromosomally adjacent to genes encoding proteins containing the cyclase domain. These appeared to be synthesized by both known and novel enzymatic combinations. Our predictor of bridging topology suggested 36 novel-predicted topologies, including a single-cysteine topology seen in 179 lanthionine or labionin containing peptides, which were enriched for histidine. Evidence that supported the relevance of the single-cysteine containing lanthipeptide precursors included the presence of the labionin motif among single cysteine peptides that clustered with labionin-associated synthetase domains, and the leader features of experimentally defined lanthipeptides that were shared with single cysteine predictions. Evolutionary rate variation among peptide subfamilies suggests that selection pressures for functional change differ among subfamilies. Lanthipeptides that have recently evolved specific novel features may represent a richer source of potential novel antimicrobials, since their target species may have had less time to evolve resistance.
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