Isolation and Characterization of the Biosynthetic Gene Clusters for Aminoglycoside Antibiotics

The biosynthetic gene clusters for bluensomycin and spectinomycin were isolated and characterized from the bluensomycin producer, Streptomyces bluensis ATCC27420 and the spectinomycin producer, Streptomyces spectabilis ATCC27741, respectively. PCR primers were designed specifically to amplify a segment of dTDP-glucose synthase gene based on its conserved sequences of several actinomycete strains. By screening cosmid libraries using amplified PCR fragments, 30-kb and 45-kb DNA fragments were isolated from Streptomyces bluensis and Streptomyces spectabilis, respectively. Sequencing analysis of them revealed that each contains 15 open reading frames (ORFs). Some of these ORFs were turned out to be antibiotic resistance genes (blmA and speN), dTDP-glucose synthase genes (blmD and spcD), and dTDP-D-glucose 4,6-dehydratase genes (blmE and spcE), suggesting that the blm and spec gene clusters are likely involved in the biosynthesis of bluensomycin and spectinomycin, respectively.