• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.764-770
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• 2006

Dihydrochalcomycin (GERI-155), produced by Streptomyces sp. KCTC-0041BP isolated from Korean soil, is a 16-membered macrolide antibiotic consisting of two deoxysugar moieties at C-5 and C-20 positions of a branched lactone ring. The cloning and sequencing of a gene cluster for dihydrochalcomycin biosynthesis revealed a 63-kb nucleotide region containing 25 open reading frames (ORFs). The products of all of these 25 ORFs playa role in dihydrochalcomycin biosynthesis and self-resistance against the compounds synthesized. At the core of this cluster lies a 39.6-kb polyketide synthase (PKS) region encoding eight modules in five giant multifunctional protein-coding genes (gerSI-SV). The genes responsible for the biosynthesis of deoxysugar moieties, D-chalcose and D-mycinose, and their modification and attachment were found on either side of this PKS region. The involvement of this gene cluster in dihydrochalcomycin biosynthesis was confirmed by disruption of the dehydratase (DH) domain in module 3 of the PKS gene and by metabolite analysis.

• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.239-241
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• 2012

Iron availability is limited in the environment and most bacteria have developed a system to acquire iron from host hemoproteins. Heme oxygenase plays an important role by degrading heme group and releasing the essential nutrient iron. The structure of Bacillus subtilis HmoB was determined to 2.0 ${\AA}$ resolution. B. subtilis HmoB contains a typical antibiotic biosynthesis monooxygenase (ABM) domain that spans from 71 to 146 residues and belongs to the IsdG family heme oxygenases. Comparison of HmoB and IsdG family proteins showed that the C-terminal region of HmoB has similar sequence and structure to IsdG family proteins and contains conserved critical residues for heme degradation. However, HmoB is distinct from other IsdG family proteins in that HmoB is about 60 amino acids longer in the N-terminus and does not form a dimer whereas previously studied IsdG family heme oxygenases form functional homodimers. Interestingly, the structure of monomeric HmoB resembles the dimeric structure of IsdG family proteins. Hence, B. subtilis HmoB is a heme oxygenase with a novel structural feature.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.68-72
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• 2002

While the biosynthetic gene cluster encoding the pigmented antibiotic actinorhodin is present in the two closely related bacterial species, Streptomyces lividans and Streptomyces coelicolor, it normally is expressed only in S. coelicolor---generating the deep blue colonies responsible for the S. coelicolor name. However, multiple copies of the afsR2 gene, which activates actinorhodin synthesis, result in the ability of S. lividansto also synthesize large amounts of actinorhodin. Here we report that the phenotypic property that historicially distinguishes these two Streptomycesspecies is determined conditionally by the carbon source used for culture. Whereas growth on glucose repressed actinorhodin production in S. lividans, culture on solid media containing glycerol as the sole carbon source dramatically increased the expression of afsR2 mRNA---leading to extensive actinorhodin synthesis by S. lividansand obliterating its phenotypic distinction from S. coelicolor. afsR2 transcription under these conditions was developmentally regulated, rising sharply at the time of aerial mycelium formation and coinciding temporally with the onset of actinorhodin production. Our results, which identify media-dependent parallel pathways that regulate actinorhodin synthesis in S. lividans, demonstrate carbon source control of actinorhodin production through the regulation of afsR2 mRNA synthesis. The nucleotide sequences of afsR2 revealed two putative important domains; the domain containing direct repeats in the middle and the domain homologous to sigma factor sequence in the C-terminal end. In this work, we constructed various sized afsR2-derivatives and compared the actinorhodin stimulating effects in S. lividans TK21. The experimental data indicate that the domain homologous to sigma factor sequence in the C-terminal end of afsR2 plays a critical role as an antibiotic stimulating function. In addition, we also observed that the single copy integration of afsR2 regulatory gene into S. lividans TK21 chromosome significantly activates antibiotic overproduction.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.121-127
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• 2009

Sequencing analysis of a 5-kb DNA fragment from Streptomyces venezuelae ATCC 15439 revealed the presence of one 3.1-kb open reading frame(ORF), designated as afsR-sv. The deduced product of afsR-sv(1,056 aa) was found to have high homology with the global regulatory protein AfsR. Homology-based analysis showed that aftR-sv represents a transcriptional activator belonging to the Streptomyces antibiotic regulatory protein(SARP) family that includes an N-terminal SARP domain containing a bacterial transcriptional activation domain(BTAD), an NB-ARC domain, and a C-terminal tetratricopeptide repeat domain. Gene expression analysis by reverse transcriptase PCR(RT-PCR) demonstrated the activation of transcription of genes belonging to pikromycin production, when aftR-sv was overexpressed in S. venezuelae. Heterologous expression of the aftR-sv in different Streptomyces strains resulted in increased production of the respective antibiotics, suggesting that afsR-sv is a positive regulator of antibiotics biosynthesis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.1591-1600
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• 2021

Streptomyces coelicolor is a filamentous soil bacterium producing several kinds of antibiotics. S. coelicolor abs8752 is an abs (antibiotic synthesis deficient)-type mutation at the absR locus; it is characterized by an incapacity to produce any of the four antibiotics synthesized by its parental strain J1501. A chromosomal DNA fragment from S. coelicolor J1501, capable of complementing the abs- phenotype of the abs8752 mutant, was cloned and analyzed. DNA sequencing revealed that two complete ORFs (SCO6992 and SCO6993) were present in opposite directions in the clone. Introduction of SCO6992 in the mutant strain resulted in a remarkable increase in the production of two pigmented antibiotics, actinorhodin and undecylprodigiosin, in S. coelicolor J1501 and abs8752. However, introduction of SCO6993 did not show any significant difference compared to the control, suggesting that SCO6992 is primarily involved in stimulating the biosynthesis of antibiotics in S. coelicolor. In silico analysis of SCO6992 (359 aa, 39.5 kDa) revealed that sequences homologous to SCO6992 were all annotated as hypothetical proteins. Although a metalloprotease domain with a conserved metal-binding motif was found in SCO6992, the recombinant rSCO6992 did not show any protease activity. Instead, it showed very strong β-glucuronidase activity in an API ZYM assay and toward two artificial substrates, p-nitrophenyl-β-D-glucuronide and AS-BI-β-D-glucuronide. The binding between rSCO6992 and Zn²⁺ was confirmed by circular dichroism spectroscopy. We report for the first time that SCO6992 is a novel protein with β-glucuronidase activity, that has a distinct primary structure and physiological role from those of previously reported β-glucuronidases.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.793-799
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• 2012

A gene related to high pristinamycin yield in Streptomyces pristinaespiralis was selected by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and its functions were investigated by gene disruption. First, a 561 bp polymorphic sequence was acquired by AFLP from high-yield recombinants compared with the S. pristinaespiralis ancestor ATCC25486, indicating that this approach is an effective means of screening for valuable genes responsible for antibiotic yield. Then, a 2,127 bp open reading frame of a gene designated spy1 that overlaps with the above fragment was identified and its structure and biological functions were investigated. In silico analysis of spy1 encoding a deduced 708-amino-acid-long serine/threonine protein kinase showed that it only contains a catalytic domain in the N-terminal region, which is different from some known homologs. Gene inactivation of chromosomal spy1 indicated that it plays a pleiotropic regulatory function in pristinamycin production, with a positive correlation to pristinamycin I biosynthesis and a negative correlation to pristinamycin II biosynthesis.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2014.05a
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• pp.27-28
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• 2014

Beauveria bassiana (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales, Ascomycota) is an anamorphic fungus having a potential to be used as a biological control agent because it parasitizes a wide range of arthropod hosts including termites, aphids, beetles and many other insects. A number of bioactive secondary metabolites (SMs) have been isolated from B. bassiana and functionally verified. Among them, beauvericin and bassianolide are cyclic depsipeptides with antibiotic and insecticidal effects belonging to the enniatin family. Non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) play a crucial role in the synthesis of these secondary metabolites. NRPSs are modularly organized multienzyme complexes in which each module is responsible for the elongation of proteinogenic and non-protein amino acids, as well as carboxyl and hydroxyacids. A minimum of three domains are necessary for one NRPS elongation module: an adenylation (A) domain for substrate recognition and activation; a tholation (T) domain that tethers the growing peptide chain and the incoming aminoacyl unit; and a condensation (C) domain to catalyze peptide bond formation. Some of the optional domains include epimerization (E), heterocyclization (Cy) and oxidation (Ox) domains, which may modify the enzyme-bound precursors or intermediates. In the present study, we analyzed genomes of B. bassiana and its allied species in Hypocreales to verify the distribution of NRPS-encoding genes involving biosynthesis of beauvericin and bassianolide, and to unveil the evolutionary processes of the gene clusters. Initially, we retrieved completely or partially assembled genomic sequences of fungal species belonging to Hypocreales from public databases. SM biosynthesizing genes were predicted from the selected genomes using antiSMASH program. Adenylation (A) domains were extracted from the predicted NRPS, NRPS-like and NRPS-PKS hybrid genes, and used them to construct a phylogenetic tree. Based on the preliminary results of SM biosynthetic gene prediction in B. bassiana, we analyzed the conserved gene orders of beauvericin and bassianolide biosynthetic gene clusters among the hypocrealean fungi. Reciprocal best blast hit (RBH) approach was performed to identify the regions orthologous to the biosynthetic gene cluster in the selected fungal genomes. A clear recombination pattern was recognized in the inferred A-domain tree in which A-domains in the 1st and 2nd modules of beauvericin and bassianolide synthetases were grouped in CYCLO and EAS clades, respectively, suggesting that two modules of each synthetase have evolved independently. In addition, inferred topologies were congruent with the species phylogeny of Cordycipitaceae, indicating that the gene fusion event have occurred before the species divergence. Beauvericin and bassianolide synthetases turned out to possess identical domain organization as C-A-T-C-A-NM-T-T-C. We also predicted precursors of beauvericin and bassianolide synthetases based on the extracted signature residues in A-domain core motifs. The result showed that the A-domains in the 1st module of both synthetases select D-2-hydroxyisovalerate (D-Hiv), while A-domains in the 2nd modules specifically activate L-phenylalanine (Phe) in beauvericin synthetase and leucine (Leu) in bassianolide synthetase. antiSMASH ver. 2.0 predicted 15 genes in the beauvericin biosynthetic gene cluster of the B. bassiana genome dispersed across a total length of approximately 50kb. The beauvericin biosynthetic gene cluster contains beauvericin synthetase as well as kivr gene encoding NADPH-dependent ketoisovalerate reductase which is necessary to convert 2-ketoisovalarate to D-Hiv and a gene encoding a putative Gal4-like transcriptional regulator. Our syntenic comparison showed that species in Cordycipitaceae have almost conserved beauvericin biosynthetic gene cluster although the gene order and direction were sometimes variable. It is intriguing that there is no region orthologous to beauvericin synthetase gene in Cordyceps militaris genome. It is likely that beauvericin synthetase was present in common ancestor of Cordycipitaceae but selective gene loss has occurred in several species including C. militaris. Putative bassianolide biosynthetic gene cluster consisted of 16 genes including bassianolide synthetase, cytochrome P450 monooxygenase, and putative Gal4-like transcriptional regulator genes. Our synteny analysis found that only B. bassiana possessed a bassianolide synthetase gene among the studied fungi. This result is consistent with the groupings in A-domain tree in which bassianolide synthetase gene found in B. bassiana was not grouped with NRPS genes predicted in other species. We hypothesized that bassianolide biosynthesizing cluster genes in B. bassiana are possibly acquired by horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from distantly related fungi. The present study showed that B. bassiana is the only species capable of producing both beauvericin and bassianolide. This property led to B. bassiana infect multiple hosts and to be a potential biological control agent against agricultural pests.