Section: Research Program

Nonribosomal peptides

Lastly, the team has been developing for several years a tight collaboration with ProBioGEM team in Institut Charles Viollette on nonribosomal peptides, and has became a leader on that topic. Nonribosomal peptide synthesis produces small peptides not going through the central dogma. As the name suggests, this synthesis uses neither messenger RNA nor ribosome but huge enzymatic complexes called nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs). This alternative pathway is found typically in bacteria and fungi. It has been described for the first time in the 70's. For the last decade, the interest in nonribosomal peptides and their synthetases has considerably increased, as witnessed by the growing number of publications in this field. These peptides are or can be used in many biotechnological and pharmaceutical applications (e.g. anti-tumors, antibiotics, immuno-modulators).