• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.183-190
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• 2020

Genome mining has recently emerged as a powerful strategy to discover novel microbial secondary metabolites. However, more than 50% of biosynthetic gene clusters are not transcribed under standardized laboratory culture condition. Several methods have been applied to activate silent biosynthetic gene clusters in the microbes so far. Among the regulatory systems for production of secondary metabolites, global regulators, which affect transcription of genes through regulatory cascades, typically govern the production of small molecules. In this review, global regulators to affect production of microbial secondary metabolites were discussed.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.305-309
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• 2002

Actinorhodin antibiotics produced by Streptomyces lividans TK24 are blue pigments with a weak antibiotic activity, derived from one acetyl-CoA and 15 malonyl-CoA units via a typical ployketide pathway. In an attempt to clone polyketide biosynthetic genes of S. lividans TK24, hybridizing fragments in the genomic DNA of S. lividans TK24 were detected by use of acn and act III polyketide synthase gene probes. Since typical aromatic polyketide bio-synthetic gene clusters are roughly 22-34 Kb long, we constructed in E. coli XL-Blue MR using the Streptomyces-E. coli bifunctional shuttle cosmid vector (pojn46). Then, about 5,000 individual E. coii colonies were thor-oughly screened with acrl-ORFI and actIII probes. From these cosmid libra-ries, 12 positive clones were identified. Restriction analysis and southern hybridization showed two polyketide biosynthetic gene clusters in this organism. These cosmid clones can be transformed into Streptomyces parvulus 12434 for expression test that identify product of actinorhodin biosynthetic genes by heterologous expression. Thus, heterologous expres-sion of a derivative compound of a actinorhodin biosynthetic intermediate was obtained in pKE2430. Expression of these compounds by the trans-formants was detected by photodiode array HPLC analysis of crude extracts.

• BMB Reports
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.475-483
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• 1998

Many antibiotics contain partially deoxygenated sugar components that are usually essential for biological activity, affinity, structural stability, and solubility of antibiotics. Gene probes of the biosynthetic genes related with the deoxysugar were obtained from PCR. Primers were designed from the conserved peptide sequences of the known dTDP-D-glucose 4,6-dehydratases, which are the key step enzymes in the biosynthesis of deoxysugar. The primers were applied to amplify parts of dehydratase genes to 27 actinomycetes that produce the metabolites containing deoxysugar as structural constituents. About 180 and 340 bp DNA fragments from all of the actinomycetes were produced by PCR and analyzed by Southern blot and DNA sequencing. The PCR products were used as gene probes to clone the biosynthetic gene clusters for the antibiotic mithramycin, rubradirin, spectinomycin, and elaiophyrin. This method should allow for detecting of the biosynthetic gene clusters of a vast array of secondary metabolites isolated from actinomycetes because of the widespread existence of deoxysugar constituents in secondary metabolites.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.227-230
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• 2008

Compounds of polyketide origin possess a wealth of pharmacological effects, including antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic, anticancer and immunosuppressive activities. Many of these compounds and their semisynthetic derivatives are used today in the clinic. Most of the gene clusters encoding commercially important drugs have also been cloned and sequenced and their biosynthetic mechanisms studied in great detail. The area of biosynthetic engineering of the enzymes involved in polyketide biosynthesis has recently advanced and been transferred into the industrial arena. In this work, we introduce a computational system to provide the user with a wealth of information that can be utilized for biosynthetic engineering of enzymes involved in post-PKS tailoring steps. Post-PKS tailoring steps are necessary to add functional groups essential for the biological activity and are therefore important in polyketide biosynthesis.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.146-156
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• 2001

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.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.667-686
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• 2019

Streptomyces are attractive microbial cell factories that have industrial capability to produce a wide array of bioactive secondary metabolites. However, the genetic potential of the Streptomyces species has not been fully utilized because most of their secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters (SM-BGCs) are silent under laboratory culture conditions. In an effort to activate SM-BGCs encoded in Streptomyces genomes, synthetic biology has emerged as a robust strategy to understand, design, and engineer the biosynthetic capability of Streptomyces secondary metabolites. In this regard, diverse synthetic biology tools have been developed for Streptomyces species with technical advances in DNA synthesis, sequencing, and editing. Here, we review recent progress in the development of synthetic biology tools for the production of novel secondary metabolites in Streptomyces, including genomic elements and genome engineering tools for Streptomyces, the heterologous gene expression strategy of designed biosynthetic gene clusters in the Streptomyces chassis strain, and future directions to expand diversity of novel secondary metabolites.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.282-285
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• 2004

The polyene antibiotics including nystatin, pimaricin, amphotericin and candicidin are a family of most promising antifungal polyketide compounds, typically produced by rare actinomycetes species. The biosynthetic gene clusters for these polyenes have been previously investigated, revealing the presence of highly homologous biosynthetic genes among polyene-producers such as polyketide synthase (PKS) and cytochrome P450 hydroxylase (CYP) genes. Based on amino acid sequence alignment among actinomycetes CYP genes, the highly-conserved regions specific for only polyene CYP genes were identified and chosen for degenerate PCR primers, followed by the PCR-screening with various actinomycetes genomic DNAs. Among tested several polyene non-producing actinomycetes strains, Pseudonorcardia autotrophica strain was selected based on the presence of PCR product with polyene-specific CYP gene primers, and then confirmed to contain a cryptic novel polyene hydroxylase gene in the chromosome. These results suggest that the polyene-specific hydroxylase gene PCR should be an efficient way of screening and isolating potentially-valuable cryptic polyene antibiotic biosynthetic genes from various microorganisms including rare actinomycetes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.1909-1921
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• 2007

Significant progress has recently been made concerning the engineering of deoxysugar biosynthesis. The biosynthetic gene clusters of several deoxysugars from various polyketides and aminoglycosides-producing microorganisms have been cloned and studied. This review introduces the biosynthetic pathways of several deoxysugars and the generation of novel hybrid macrolide antibiotics via the coexpression of deoxysugar biosynthetic gene cassettes and the substrate-flexible glycosyltransferases in a host organism as well as the production of TDP-deoxysugar derivatives via one-pot enzymatic reactions with the identified enzymes. These recent developments in the engineering of deoxysugars biosynthesis may pave the way to create novel secondary metabolites with potential biological activities.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.458-465
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• 2021

Tubulysins are a group of bioactive secondary metabolites from myxobacteria exhibiting strong anticancer activity against various cancer cell lines. In this study, we describe the identification of putative tubulysin biosynthetic gene clusters (tubA~tubF) in the genome sequences of two tubulysin-producing myxobacterial strains, Archangium gephyra MEHO_002 and MEHO_004. The inactivation of the putative tubulysin biosynthetic genes resulted in a tubulysin-production defect. The DNA sequences of the A. gephyra MEHO_002 and MEHO_004 tubulysin biosynthetic genes were 97% identical, and the amino acid sequences of the encoded proteins shared a similarity of 97-100%. The nucleotide sequences of the tubulysin biosynthetic gene clusters in MEHO_002 and MEHO_004 were 86% identical to that in Cystobacter sp. SBCb004 known as a tubulysin-producing myxobacterium, and the organization of the clusters was identical except for the lack of a tubZ gene in the clusters in MEHO_002 and MEHO_004. The amino acid sequences of the proteins encoded by each gene were 88-97% similar to those encoded by SBCb004, and the domain compositions of the proteins were also identical.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 2021

More and more available fungal genome sequence data reveal a large amount of secondary metabolite (SM) biosynthetic 'dark matter' to be discovered. Heterogeneous expression is one of the most effective approaches to exploit these novel natural products, but it is limited by having to clone entire biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) without errors. So far, few effective technologies have been developed to manipulate the specific large DNA fragments in filamentous fungi. Here, we developed a fungal BGC-capturing system based on CRISPR/Cas9 cleavage in vitro. In our system, Cas9 protein was purified and CRISPR guide sequences in combination with in vivo yeast assembly were rationally designed. Using targeted cleavages of plasmid DNAs with linear (8.5 kb) or circular (8.5 kb and 28 kb) states, we were able to cleave the plasmids precisely, demonstrating the high efficiency of this system. Furthermore, we successfully captured the entire Nrc gene cluster from the genomic DNA of Neosartorya fischeri. Our results provide an easy and efficient approach to manipulate fungal genomic DNA based on the in vitro application of Cas9 endonuclease. Our methodology will lay a foundation for capturing entire groups of BGCs in filamentous fungi and accelerate fungal SMs mining.