Aptamers that recognize the lipid moiety of the antibiotic moenomycin A

• Published in: Biological chemistry Vol. 384; no. 10-11; p. 1497
• Main Authors: Betat, Heike, Vogel, Stefan, Struhalla, Marc, Förster, Hans-Heinrich, Famulok, Michael, Welzel, Peter, Hahn, Ulrich
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany 01-10-2003
• Subjects: Anti-Bacterial Agents - chemistry; Bambermycins - biosynthesis; Bambermycins - chemistry; Base Sequence; Binding Sites; Carbohydrate Sequence; Chromatography, Affinity; Consensus Sequence; Disaccharides - chemistry; Disaccharides - metabolism; Epitope Mapping; Glycerophosphates - chemistry; Glycolipids - chemistry; Glycolipids - genetics; Glycolipids - metabolism; Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; Ligands; Lipids - chemistry; Molecular Sequence Data; Oligosaccharides - chemistry; Oligosaccharides - metabolism; Phosphorus Radioisotopes; RNA - analysis; RNA - chemistry
• ISSN: 1431-6730
• DOI: 10.1515/BC.2003.165

Moenomycin A is an amphiphilic phosphoglycolipid antibiotic that interferes with the transglycosylation step in peptidoglycan biosynthesis. The antibiotic consists of a branched pentasaccharide moiety, connected to the moenocinol lipid via a glycerophosphate linker. We have previously described the selection of aptamers that require the lipid group and the disaccharide epitopes of the oligosaccharide moiety for moenomycin binding. Here we report that the enriched moenomycin-binding library contains sequences that evolved for specific recognition of the unpolar lipid group of the antibiotic. These results suggest that the evolution of hydrophobic binding pockets in RNA molecules may be much more common than previously assumed.