Pulcherriminic acid is a cyclic dipeptide found mainly in Bacillus and yeast. Due to the ability of pulcherriminic acid to chelate Fe3+ to produce reddish brown pulcherrimin, microorganisms capable of synthesizing pulcherriminic acid compete with other microorganisms for environmental iron ions to achieve bacteriostatic effects. Therefore, studying the biosynthetic pathway and their enzymatic catalysis, gene regulation in the process of synthesis of pulcherriminic acid in Bacillus can facilitate the industrial production, and promote the wide application in food, agriculture and medicine industries. After initially discussing, this review summarizes current research on the synthesis of pulcherriminic acid by Bacillus, which includes the crystallization of key enzymes, molecular catalytic mechanisms, regulation of synthetic pathways, and methods to improve efficiency in synthesizing pulcherriminic acid and its precursors. Finally, possible applications of pulcherriminic acid in the fermented food, such as Chinese Baijiu, applying combinatorial biosynthesis will be summarized.
Keywords: Bacillus; bacteriostasis; catalytic mechanism; key enzymes; metabolic engineering; pulcherriminic acid; regulatory mechanism; synthetic pathway.