Genetic analysis of absB, a Streptomyces coelicolor locus involved in global antibiotic regulation.

The filamentous soil bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor is known to produce four antibiotics which are genetically and structurally distinct. An extensive search for antibiotic regulatory mutants led to the discovery of absB mutants, which are antibiotic deficient but sporulation proficient. Genetic analysis of the absB mutants has resulted in definition of the absB locus at 5 o'clock on the genetic map. Multiple cloned copies of the actII-ORF4 gene, an activator of synthesis of the antibiotic actinorhodin, restore actinorhodin biosynthetic capability to the absB mutants. These results are interpreted to mean that the failure of absB mutants to produce antibiotics results from decreased expression of the antibiotic genes. The absB gene is proposed to be involved in global regulation of antibiotic synthesis.     

Mutations in a new Streptomyces coelicolor locus which globally block antibiotic biosynthesis but not sporulation

Streptomyces coelicolor produces four known antibiotics. To define genetic elements that regulate antibiotic synthesis, we screened for mutations that visibly blocked synthesis of the two pigmented antibiotics and found that the mutant strains which we recovered were of two classes--double mutants and mutants in which all four antibiotics were blocked. The mutations in these multiply blocked strains define a new locus of S. coelicolor which we have named absA. The genetic location of absA, at 10 o'clock, is distinct from the locations of the antibiotic gene clusters and from other known mutations that affect antibiotic synthesis. The phenotype of the absA mutants suggests that all S. coelicolor antibiotic synthesis genes are subject to a common global regulation that is at least in part distinct from sporulation and that absA is a genetic component of the regulatory mechanism.     

abaA, a new pleiotropic regulatory locus for antibiotic production in Streptomyces coelicolor.

Production of the blue-pigmented antibiotic actinorhodin is greatly enhanced in Streptomyces lividans and Streptomyces coelicolor by transformation with a 2.7-kb DNA fragment from the S. coelicolor chromosome cloned on a multicopy plasmid. Southern analysis, restriction map comparisons, and map locations of the cloned genes revealed that these genes were different from other known S. coelicolor genes concerned with actinorhodin biosynthesis or its pleiotropic regulation. Computer analysis of the DNA sequence showed five putative open reading frames (ORFs), which were named ORFA, ORFB, and ORFC (transcribed in one direction) and ORFD and ORFE (transcribed in the opposite direction). Subcloning experiments revealed that ORFB together with 137 bp downstream of it is responsible for antibiotic overproduction in S. lividans. Insertion of a phi C31 prophage into ORFB by homologous recombination gave rise to a mutant phenotype in which the production of actinorhodin, undecylprodigiosin, and the calcium-dependent antibiotic (but not methylenomycin) was reduced or abolished. The nonproducing mutants were not affected in the timing or vigor or sporulation. A possible involvement of ORFA in antibiotic production in S. coelicolor is not excluded. abaA constitutes a new locus which, like the afs and abs genes previously described, pleiotropically regulates antibiotic production. DNA sequences that hybridize with the cloned DNA are present in several different Streptomyces species.     

The bld mutants of Streptomyces coelicolor are defective in the regulation of carbon utilization, morphogenesis and cell–cell signalling

Mutants of Streptomyces coelicolor blocked at the earliest visible stage of morphological differentiation are called bld mutants. These mutants fail to form aerial hyphae on rich medium and most are defective in antibiotic production. One striking feature of these mutants is that, with the exception of bldB , their morphological defect is carbon-source dependent. In our investigation of catabolite control in Streptomyces , we identified mutants that were resistant to glucose repression and were also bld . The existence of these new bld mutants led us to examine the catabolite control phenotype of the previously described bld mutants which were not known to contain defects in carbon regulation. We report here that all of the characterized bld mutants of S. coelicolor are defective in the regulation of galP1 , and that at least one of the bld mutants, bldB , is globally deregulated for carbon utilization. Complementation of the morphological defect of bldA and bldB mutants with a cloned copy of the wild-type bld gene simultaneously restored normal regulation of galP1 , indicating that both aspects of the mutant phenotype are caused by the same lesion. We suggest a new interpretation for the role of the bld genes in development in Streptomyces. We suggest that the primary defect in bld mutants is in the regulation of carbon utilization, not specifically in the activation of genes whose products regulate the development pathway as previously suggested. We speculate that the inability of bld mutants to initiate morphogenesis is a secondary consequence of their inability to sense and/or signal starvation.     

Glycosylation of a Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) cell envelope protein is required for infection by bacteriophage phi C31

Mutants of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) J1929 (Delta pglY) were isolated that were resistant to the Streptomyces temperate phage phi C31. These strains could be transfected with phi C31 DNA, but could not act as infective centres after exposure to phage. Thus, it was concluded that infection was blocked at the adsorption/DNA injection step. The mutants fell into three classes. Class I mutants were complemented by a gene, SCE87.05, isolated from the cosmid library of S. coelicolor A3(2). The product of SCE87.05 had good overall homology to a Mycobacterium tuberculosis hypothetical protein and regions with similarity to dolichol phosphate-D-mannose:protein O-D-mannosyltransferases. Concanavalin A (ConA) inhibited phi C31 infection of S. coelicolor J1929, and this could be partially reversed by the addition of the sugar, alpha-D-methyl-pyranoside. Moreover, glycosylated proteins from J1929, but not from the class I mutant DT1017, were detected using ConA as a probe in Western blots. Class I and II mutants were sensitive to phi C31hc, a previously isolated phage exhibiting an extended host range phenotype, conferred by h. A phage with the same phenotype, phi DT4002, was isolated independently, and a missense mutation was found in a putative tail gene. It is proposed that the phi C31 receptor is a cell wall glycoprotein, and that the phi C31h mutation compensates for the lack of glycosylation of the receptor.     

Development,Antibiotic Production,and Ribosome Assembly in Streptomyces venezuelae Are Impacted by RNase J and RNase III Deletion

RNA metabolism is a critical but frequently overlooked control element affecting virtually every cellular process in bacteria. RNA processing and degradation is mediated by a suite of ribonucleases having distinct cleavage and substrate specificity. Here, we probe the role of two ribonucleases (RNase III and RNase J) in the emerging model system Streptomyces venezuelae. We show that each enzyme makes a unique contribution to the growth and development of S. venezuelae and further affects the secondary metabolism and antibiotic production of this bacterium. We demonstrate a connection between the action of these ribonucleases and translation, with both enzymes being required for the formation of functional ribosomes. RNase III mutants in particular fail to properly process 23S rRNA, form fewer 70S ribosomes, and show reduced translational processivity. The loss of either RNase III or RNase J additionally led to the appearance of a new ribosomal species (the 100S ribosome dimer) during exponential growth and dramatically sensitized these mutants to a range of antibiotics.     

Identification of a gene negatively affecting antibiotic production and morphological differentiation in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2)

SC7A1 is a cosmid with an insert of chromosomal DNA from Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2). Its insertion into the chromosome of S. coelicolor strains caused a duplication of a segment of ca. 40 kb and delayed actinorhodin antibiotic production and sporulation, implying that SC7A1 carried a gene negatively affecting these processes. The subcloning of SC7A1 insert DNA resulted in the identification of the open reading frame SCO5582 as nsdA, a gene negatively affecting Streptomyces differentiation. The disruption of chromosomal nsdA caused the overproduction of spores and of three of four known S. coelicolor antibiotics of quite different chemical types. In at least one case (that of actinorhodin), this was correlated with premature expression of a pathway-specific regulatory gene (actII-orf4), implying that nsdA in the wild-type strain indirectly repressed the expression of the actinorhodin biosynthesis cluster. nsdA expression was up-regulated upon aerial mycelium initiation and was strongest in the aerial mycelium. NsdA has DUF921, a Streptomyces protein domain of unknown function and a conserved SXR site. A site-directed mutation (S458A) in this site in NsdA abolished its function. Blast searching showed that NsdA homologues are present in some Streptomyces genomes. Outside of streptomycetes, NsdA-like proteins have been found in several actinomycetes. The disruption of the nsdA-like gene SCO4114 had no obvious phenotypic effects on S. coelicolor. The nsdA orthologue SAV2652 in S. avermitilis could complement the S. coelicolor nsdA-null mutant phenotype.     

Cross-regulation among disparate antibiotic biosynthetic pathways of Streptomyces coelicolor

A complex programme of regulation governs gene expression during development of the morphologically and biochemically complex eubacterial genus Streptomyces. Earlier work has suggested a model in which 'higher level' pleiotropic regulators activate 'pathway-specific' regulators located within chromosomal gene clusters encoding biosynthesis of individual antibiotics. We used mutational analysis and adventitious overexpression of key Streptomyces coelicolor regulators to investigate functional interactions among them. We report here that cluster-situated regulators (CSRs) thought to be pathway-specific can also control other antibiotic biosynthetic gene clusters, and thus have pleiotropic actions. Surprisingly, we also find that CSRs exhibit growth-phase-dependent control over afsR2/afsS, a 'higher level' pleiotropic regulatory locus not located within any of the chromosomal gene clusters it targets, and further demonstrate that cross-regulation by CSRs is modulated globally and differentially during the S. coelicolor growth cycle by the RNaseIII homologue AbsB. Our results, which reveal a network of functional interactions among regulators that govern production of antibiotics and other secondary metabolites in S. coelicolor, suggest that revision of the currently prevalent view of higher-level versus pathway-specific regulation of secondary metabolism in Streptomyces species is warranted.     

Cloning and expression in a heterologous host of the complete set of genes for biosynthesis of the Streptomyces coelicolor antibiotic undecylprodigiosin

A fragment of DNA carrying the hitherto unisolated members of the cluster of genes (red) for biosynthesis of the red-pigmented antibiotic undecylprodigiosin of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) was isolated. This was done by cloning random fragments of S. coelicolor DNA into the closely related Streptomyces lividans 66 and recovering a clone that caused overproduction of undecylprodigiosin. The effect was probably due to the presence of the cloned redD gene, which functions as a positive regulator of the expression of the red cluster, activating the normally poorly expressed red genes of S. lividans. Two fragments from either end of the red cluster were cloned adjacent to each other on a low-copy-number Streptomyces vector. Double crossing-over occurring between these plasmid-borne sequences and the chromosomal copy of the same DNA in S. coelicolor led to isolation of the entire red cluster as a single cloned fragment. Isolation of antibiotic biosynthetic genes by the effects of an activator in a self-cloning experiment, and in vivo reconstitution of a large cluster of genes by homologous recombination, may turn out to be usefully generalizable procedures.     

New loci required for Streptomyces coelicolor morphological and physiological differentiation.

Streptomyces coelicolor colonies differentiate both morphologically, producing aerial spore chains, and physiologically, producing antibiotics as secondary metabolites. Single mutations, which block both aspects of differentiation, define bld (bald colony) genes. To identify new bld genes, mutagenized colonies were screened for blocks in the earliest stage of sporulation, the formation of aerial mycelia, and blocks in antibiotic synthesis. The mutations in 12 mutants were mapped; in each strain, the pleiotropic phenotype was due to a single mutation. Seven of the strains contained mutations in known bld loci, bldA and bldB. Three strains contained mutations in a new locus, bldG, and two contained mutations in another new locus, bldH. Like the previously defined bldA mutants, the bldG and bldH mutants were developmentally blocked on glucose. On a variety of carbon sources whose utilization was subject to glucose repression, the developmental blocks were partially relieved for bldG (and bldA) mutants and fully relieved for bldH mutants. These results are compatible with an hypothesis which suggests that there are two alternative controls on S. coelicolor differentiation, one of which is glucose repressible.     

A cloned regulatory gene of Streptomyces lividans can suppress the pigment deficiency phenotype of different developmental mutants.

We report here the cloning of a Streptomyces lividans gene that when introduced on a multicopy plasmid vector reversed the pigment deficiency phenotype of several distinct mutants blocked in development, pigment production, or both. Although this gene was shown by restriction enzyme analysis to be similar to a previously cloned afsB-complementing gene of Streptomyces coelicolor, we show that it does not correspond to the S. coelicolor chromosomal locus designated afsB. Thus, the cloned locus, which we propose to rename afsR, appears to complement the AfsB- phenotype by pleiotropic regulatory effects.     

Isolation and sequence analysis of polyketide synthase genes from the daunomycin-producing Streptomyces sp. strain C5.

A contiguous region of about 30 kbp of DNA putatively encoding reactions in daunomycin biosynthesis was isolated from Streptomyces sp. strain C5 DNA. The DNA sequence of an 8.1-kbp EcoRI fragment, which hybridized with actI polyketide synthase (PKS) and actIII polyketide reductase (PKR) gene probes, was determined, revealing seven complete open reading frames (ORFs), two in one cluster and five in a divergently transcribed cluster. The former two genes are likely to encode PKR and a bifunctional cyclase/dehydrase. The five latter genes encode: (i) a homolog of TcmH, an oxygenase of the tetracenomycin biosynthesis pathway; (ii) a PKS Orf1 homolog; (iii) a PKS Orf2 homolog (chain length factor); (iv) a product having moderate sequence identity with Escherichia coli beta-ketoacyl acyl carrier protein synthase III but lacking the conserved active site; and (v) a protein highly similar to several acyltransferases. The DNA within the 8.1-kbp EcoRI fragment restored daunomycin production to two dauA non-daunomycin-producing mutants of Streptomyces sp. strain C5 and restored wild-type antibiotic production to Streptomyces coelicolor B40 (act VII; nonfunctional cyclase/dehydrase), and to S. coelicolor B41 (actIII) and Streptomyces galilaeus ATCC 31671, strains defective in PKR activity.     

Mutations in rsmG, encoding a 16S rRNA methyltransferase, result in low-level streptomycin resistance and antibiotic overproduction in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2)

Certain str mutations that confer high- or low-level streptomycin resistance result in the overproduction of antibiotics by Streptomyces spp. The str mutations that confer the high-level resistance occur within rpsL, which encodes the ribosomal protein S12, while those that cause low-level resistance are not as well known. We have used comparative genome sequencing to determine that low-level resistance is caused by mutations of rsmG, which encodes an S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)-dependent 16S rRNA methyltransferase containing a SAM binding motif. Deletion of rsmG from wild-type Streptomyces coelicolor resulted in the acquisition of streptomycin resistance and the overproduction of the antibiotic actinorhodin. Introduction of wild-type rsmG into the deletion mutant completely abrogated the effects of the rsmG deletion, confirming that rsmG mutation underlies the observed phenotype. Consistent with earlier work using a spontaneous rsmG mutant, the strain carrying DeltarsmG exhibited increased SAM synthetase activity, which mediated the overproduction of antibiotic. Moreover, high-performance liquid chromatography analysis showed that the DeltarsmG mutant lacked a 7-methylguanosine modification in the 16S rRNA (possibly at position G518, which corresponds to G527 of Escherichia coli). Like certain rpsL mutants, the DeltarsmG mutant exhibited enhanced protein synthetic activity during the late growth phase. Unlike rpsL mutants, however, the DeltarsmG mutant showed neither greater stability of the 70S ribosomal complex nor increased expression of ribosome recycling factor, suggesting that the mechanism underlying increased protein synthesis differs in the rsmG and the rpsL mutants. Finally, spontaneous rsmG mutations arose at a 1,000-fold-higher frequency than rpsL mutations. These findings provide new insight into the role of rRNA modification in activating secondary metabolism in Streptomyces.     

NsdB——天蓝色链霉菌A3(2)中一个负调控抗生素产量蛋白的研究

TPR(tetratricopeptide repeat)是在很多蛋白中均被发现到的一个含有34个氨基酸的蛋白重复序列,其基本功能是参与蛋白间的相互作用。天蓝色链霉菌A3(2)中有70个蛋白含有类TPR结构域,NsdA是其中的一个,研究发现该蛋白对天蓝色链霉菌的产孢和产素都有负调控作用。本研究中发现基因SCO7252和SCO1593编码含TPR结构的蛋白,中断SCO7252基因后菌株放线紫红素和钙依赖抗生素产量均提高,但形态分化没有明显变化,基因SCO1593中断后菌株在产孢产素及形态等各方面均未受到影响。基因SCO7252被命名为nsdB,RT-PCR分析表明,该基因在生长30h时开始表达。通过生物信息分析表明,天蓝色链霉菌的70个含类TPR结构的蛋白中有32个仅含该结构域,有25个另外含有DNA结合区域,这些暗示着它们可能直接控制基因的表达。     

Functional analysis of relA and rshA, two relA/spoT homologues of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2)

Deletion of the (p)ppGpp synthetase gene, relA, of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) results in loss of production of the antibiotics actinorhodin (Act) and undecylprodigiosin (Red) and delayed morphological differentiation when the mutant is grown under conditions of nitrogen limitation. To analyze the role of (p)ppGpp as an intracellular signaling molecule for the initiation of antibiotic production, several C-terminally deleted derivatives of S. coelicolor relA that could potentially function in the absence of ribosome activation were placed under the control of the thiostrepton-inducible tipA promoter. While 0.82- and 1.28-kb N-terminal segments failed to restore (p)ppGpp and antibiotic production upon induction in a relA null mutant, 1.46- and 2.07-kb segments did. Under conditions of phosphate limitation, deletion of relA had little or no effect on Act or Red synthesis, potentially reflecting an alternative mechanism for ppGpp synthesis. A second S. coelicolor RelA homologue (RshA, with 42% identity to S. coelicolor RelA) was identified in the genome sequence. However, deletion of rshA had no effect on the ability of the relA mutant to make Act and Red when grown under conditions of phosphate limitation. While high-level induction of tipAp::rshA in the relA mutant resulted in growth inhibition, low-level induction restored antibiotic production and sporulation. In neither case, nor in the relA mutant that was grown under phosphate limitation and producing Act and Red, could (p)ppGpp synthesis be detected. Thus, a ppGpp-independent mechanism exists to activate antibiotic production under conditions of phosphate limitation that can be mimicked by overexpression of rshA.