Issue 6, 2021

Insights into phosphatase-activated chemical defense in a marine sponge holobiont

Abstract

Marine sponges often contain potent cytotoxic compounds, which in turn evokes the principle question of how marine sponges avoid self-toxicity. In a marine sponge Discodermia calyx, the highly toxic calyculin A is detoxified by the phosphorylation, which is catalyzed by the phosphotransferase CalQ of a producer symbiont, “Candidatus Entotheonella” sp. Here we show the activating mechanism to dephosphorylate the stored phosphocalyculin A protoxin. The phosphatase specific to phosphocalyculin A is CalL, which is also encoded in the calyculin biosynthetic gene cluster. CalL represents a new clade and unprecedently coordinates the heteronuclear metals Cu and Zn. CalL is localized in the periplasmic space of the sponge symbiont, where it is ready for the on-demand production of calyculin A in response to sponge tissue disruption.

Graphical abstract: Insights into phosphatase-activated chemical defense in a marine sponge holobiont

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
12 Aug 2021
Accepted
04 Oct 2021
First published
06 Oct 2021
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Chem. Biol., 2021,2, 1600-1607

Insights into phosphatase-activated chemical defense in a marine sponge holobiont

T. Jomori, K. Matsuda, Y. Egami, I. Abe, A. Takai and T. Wakimoto, RSC Chem. Biol., 2021, 2, 1600 DOI: 10.1039/D1CB00163A

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