Dual role of GdmH in producer immunity and secretion of the staphylococcallantibiotics gallidermin and epidermin

The biosynthetic gene clusters of the staphylococcal lantibiotics epidermin and gallidermin are distinguished by the presence of the unique genes epiH and gdmH, respectively. They encode accessory factors for the ATP-binding cassette transporters that mediate secretion of the antimicrobial peptides. Here, we show that gdmH also contributes to immunity to gallidermin but no t to nisin. gdmH alone affected susceptibility to gallidermin only moderate ly, but it led to a multiplication of the immunity level mediated by the FE G immunity genes when cloned together with the gdmT gene, suggesting a syne rgistic activity of the H and FEG systems. gdmH-related genes were identifi ed in the genomes of several bacteria, indicating an involvement in further cellular functions.