Patent ID: 7785825

Claim:
A method of modifying a lantibiotic precursor peptide by dehydration or dehydration and cyclization, comprising: (a) providing said lantibiotic precursor peptide; (b) providing a purified LctM enzyme capable of catalyzing dehydration and cyclization of the lantibiotic precursor peptide, wherein said LctM enzyme has at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:40 and enzymatic activity of dehydration or dehydration and cyclization of the lantibiotic precursor peptide of SEQ ID NO:3; and (c) incubating a reaction mixture comprising a divalent metal cation, ATP, said lantibiotic precursor peptide of (a) and said LctM enzyme; thereby modifying said lantibiotic precursor peptide by dehydration or dehydration and cyclization.