Cloning and expression of the tyrosinase gene from Streptomyces antibioticus in Streptomyces lividans

In two separate studies a BclI-generated DNA fragment coding for the enzyme tyrosinase, responsible for melanin synthesis, was cloned from Streptomyces antibioticus DNA into two SLP1.2-based plasmid vectors (pIJ37 and pIJ41) to generate the hybrid plasmids, designated pIJ700 and pIJ701, using S. lividans 66 as the host. The fragment (1.55 kb) was subcloned into the multicopy plasmid pIJ350 (which carries thiostrepton resistance and has two non-essential BclI sites) to generate four new plasmids (pIJ702-pIJ705) with the tyrosinase insert located in either orientation at each site. All six plasmids conferred melanin production (the Mel+ phenotype) on their host. As in the S. antibioticus parent, strains of S. lividans carrying the gene specifying tyrosinase synthesis possessed an enzyme activity which was inducible. Most of the tyrosinase activity was secreted during growth of S. antibioticus; in contrast, the majority remained intracellular in the S. lividans clones. The specific activity of the induced tyrosinase activity (intracellular) was higher (up to 36-fold) when the gene was present on the multicopy vector in comparison with its location on the low copy plasmids, pIJ700 or pIJ701, or in S. antibioticus. Restriction mapping of the tyrosinase fragment in pIJ702 revealed endonuclease cleavage sites for several enzymes, including single sites for BglII, SphI and SstI that are absent from the parent vector (pIJ350). Insertion of DNA fragments at any one of these sites abolished the Mel+ phenotype. The results indicate that pIJ702 is a useful cloning vector with insertional inactivation of the Mel+ character as the basis of clone recognition.     

Unstable genetic determinant of A-factor biosynthesis in streptomycin-producing organisms: cloning and characterization.

We cloned a DNA fragment directing synthesis of A-factor from the total cellular DNA of streptomycin-producing Streptomyces bikiniensis on the plasmid vector pIJ385 . Introduction of the recombinant plasmid ( pAFB1 ) into A-factor-deficient S. bikiniensis and Streptomyces griseus mutants led to A-factor production in the host cells, as a result of which streptomycin production, streptomycin resistance, and spore formation of these mutants were simultaneously restored. The plasmid pAFB1 also complemented both afsA and afsB mutations of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2). These results indicated that the cloned DNA fragment contained the genetic determinant of A-factor biosynthesis. The cloned fragment, when carried on a multicopy vector plasmid, induced production of a large amount of A-factor in several Streptomyces hosts. In Southern blot DNA/DNA hybridization analyses with a trimmed 5-kilobase fragment containing the intact A-factor determinant as probe, total cellular DNA from A-factor-deficient mutants gave no positive hybridization. The DNA blot experiment also showed a wide distribution of sequences homologous to the S. bikiniensis A-factor determinant among most, but not all, A-factor-producing actinomycetes with a varying extent of homology and the absence of these sequences from most A-factor nonproducers .     

Cloning and amplified expression in Streptomyces lividans of a gene encoding extracellular beta-lactamase from Streptomyces albus G

A 4.9-kb DNA fragment containing the bla gene for the extracellular beta-lactamase (BLA) of Streptomyces albus G was cloned in Streptomyces lividans using the conjugative, low-copy-number plasmid pIJ61 as vector. No expression of bla was observed when this DNA fragment was introduced into Escherichia coli HB101 on a plasmid vector. A 1.5-kb PstI-SstI fragment containing the bla gene was cloned in S. lividans on the nonconjugative, high-copy-number plasmid pIJ702. A tenfold higher yield of BLA was obtained from S. lividans carrying this plasmid than from S. albus G grown under optimal production conditions. The BLA from the clone reacts with beta-iodopenicillanate according to a branched pathway which is characteristic of the original S. albus G BLA enzyme.     

Integrated DNA sequences in three streptomycetes form related autonomous plasmids after transfer to Streptomyces lividans

When Streptomyces parvulus ATCC 12434 was crossed with a plasmid-free S. lividans 66 derivative, some S. lividans exconjugants contained plasmid DNA, pIJ110 (13.6 kb). In a similar way, pIJ408 (15.05 kb) was found after mating S. glaucescens ETH 22794 with S. lividans. CCC DNA was not visualized in the donor strains. pIJ110 and pIJ408 each originates from a larger replicon, probably the chromosome, of S. parvulus or S. glaucescens. Restriction maps of pIJ110 and pIJ408, each for 10 enzymes, were derived. Derivatives of each plasmid were constructed carrying antibiotic-resistance markers (thiostrepton or viomycin) in a nonessential region and each plasmid was cloned into an Escherichia coli plasmid vector (pBR327 or pBR325). pIJ110 and pIJ408 resemble, in their origin, the previously known SLP1 plasmids (such as SLP1.2) which come from integrated sequences in the chromosome of S. coelicolor A3(2). pIJ110 and pIJ408, like SLP1.2, are self-transmissible, elicit the so-called lethal zygosis reaction (pock formation) and mobilize chromosomal markers. The three plasmids, in spite of their very different restriction maps, were found to be related: SLP1.2 and pIJ110 were strongly incompatible, showed complete resistance to each other's lethal zygosis reaction, and shared a segment of DNA with a considerable degree of cross-hybridization; pIJ110 and pIJ408 were weakly incompatible and showed partial resistance to lethal zygosis and a weak DNA cross-hybridization; pIJ408 and SLP1.2 were only distantly related on these criteria. pIJ110, pIJ408, and SLP1.2 hybridized with varying degrees of homology in Southern transfer experiments to DNA from 7 out of 13 of an arbitrary collection of wild-type streptomycetes. Integrated sequences capable of forming plasmids after transfer to S. lividans may therefore be widespread in the genus Streptomyces.     

Analysis of the nourseothricin-resistance gene (nat) of Streptomyces noursei

A gene (nat) conferring resistance to the streptothricin antibiotic nourseothricin (Nc) was cloned from the producer Streptomyces noursei into Streptomyces lividans on the vector pIJ702 to form pNAT1. The nat gene was localized on a 1-kb SalI-MboI fragment, which also carries the nat promoter. Divergent promoter activity from the nat promoter region was identified on the cloned fragment using promoter probe plasmids pIJ486 and pIJ487. The nat gene is not expressed from its own promoter in Escherichia coli as shown by its failure to promote cat expression in promoter-less plasmid pBB100 and by the expression of NcR in only one orientation, when cloned in pUC19. In S. lividans 7A, harbouring plasmid pNAT1, an Nc-acetylating activity (NAT) was associated with the cloned resistance gene. The substrate specificity of NAT correlated well with the substrate range of the acetyltransferase in S. noursei and Tn1825-determined streptothricin resistance in Gram-negative bacteria. Moreover, an extract of S. lividans carrying pNAT1 showed specific serological cross-reactivity with an extract of E. coli carrying Tn1825.     

Cloning and characterization of the carbapenem biosynthetic genes from Streptomyces fulvoviridis

Carbapenem non-producing mutants were isolated from Streptomyces fulvoviridis and divided into six cosynthesis groups. By using one of the mutants as the host and plasmid pIJ385 as the vector, we cloned carbapenem biosynthetic genes from the parental S. fulvoviridis strain. A cloned 6-kb DNA fragment complemented the defects of three mutants each of which had a mutation in different genes. Southern blot hybridization using the cloned 6-kb fragment as probe showed the presence of the nucleotide sequences homologous to the probe in other carbapenem-producing Streptomyces spp. In addition, Streptomyces griseus, a carbapenem non-producer, possessed the sequence homologous to the probe and showed co-synthesis phenomena with some of the carbapenem non-producing mutants of S. fulvoviridis.     

A linear DNA plasmid from Streptomyces rochei with an inverted terminal repetition of 614 base pairs.

The terminal structure of a linear plasmid pSLA2 , which was isolated from Streptomyces rochei , was analysed. The 5' ends of pSLA2 DNA were blocked by the association of a protein probably covalently bonded with the DNA. This block is removed by alkali treatment and blunt ends with 5'-phosphate and 3'-hydroxy termini were released. The two terminal fragments of pSLA2 were cloned and the nucleotide sequence was determined. An inverted terminal repetition of 614 bp was found along with the presence of further interrupted homologous sequences beyond this area up to 800 bp. These are the first inverted terminal repeat sequences found in microbial linear plasmids.     

Cloning of the vaccinia virus telomere in a yeast plasmid vector

The vaccinia virus DNA telomere, which contains a covalently closed hairpin structure, has been cloned in a yeast plasmid vector. Restriction mapping indicates that the cloned vaccinia telomere is maintained in yeast not in its native hairpin configuration but as an inverted repeat structure, within a circular plasmid, with the sequences of the viral hairpin now at the axis of symmetry of an imperfect palindrome. As such, the cloned telomere resembles the telomeric replicative intermediate observed during vaccinia virus DNA replication. Small deletions and duplications in the viral inverted repeats of different clones suggest a model in which the observed circular plasmids were generated in yeast by the replication of hybrid linear DNA molecules consisting of the linearized yeast vector flanked by two hairpin-containing vaccinia termini.     

圈卷产色链霉菌分化关键基因——saw1的克隆及酶切分析

链霉菌是现代生物学研究中一种重要的微生物,它有两个突出的特征:其一,有无与伦比的合成次生代谢产物的能力,世界上所知数千种抗生素的70％由其产生。其二,有一个复杂的发育分化的生命周期,是微生物分化研究的一个最好的模式材料。链霉菌分化主要为形态分化和生理分化,两者彼此独立又相互关联,构成复杂的分化调控网络,研究分化基因的调控不但有重要的理论意义,而且可用于控制抗生素的生物合成,因此弄清合成途径的分子机制,也有潜在的应用价值。圈卷产色链霉菌是从我国东北土     

The bialaphos biosynthetic genes ofStreptomyces hygroscopicus: Molecular cloning and characterization of the gene cluster

Summary We have isolated and studied the organization ofStreptomyces hygroscopicus genes responsible for the biosynthesis of the antibiotic herbicide bialaphos. Bialaphos production genes were cloned from genomic DNA using a plasmid vector (pIJ702). Three plasmids were isolated which restored productivity toS. hygroscopicus mutants blocked at different steps of the biosynthetic pathway. Subcloning experiments using other nonproducing mutants showed that four additional bialaphos production genes were also contained on these plasmids. A gene conferring resistance to bialaphos, which was independently cloned using the plasmid vector pIJ61, and an antibiotic-sensitive host (S. lividans), was also linked to the production genes. Cosmids were isolated which defined the location of these genes in a 16 kb cluster.     

pIJ101, a multi-copy broad host-range Streptomyces plasmid: functional analysis and development of DNA cloning vectors

Streptomyces lividans ISP 5434 contains four small high copy number plasmids: pIJ101 (8.9 kb), pIJ102 (4.0 kb), pIJ103 (3.9 kb) and pIJ104 (4.9 kb). The three smaller species appear to be naturally occurring deletion variants of pIJ101. pIJ101 and its in vivo and in vitro derivatives were studied after transformation into S. lividans 66. pIJ101 was found to be self-transmissible by conjugation, to elicit "lethal zygosis" and to promote chromosomal recombination at high frequency in both S. lividans 66 and S. coelicolor A3(2). A restriction endonuclease cleavage map of pIJ101 was constructed for 11 endonucleases; sites for five others were lacking. Many variants of pIJ101 were constructed in vitro by inserting DNA fragments determining resistance to neomycin, thiostrepton or viomycin, and having BamHI termini, into MboI or BclI sites on the plasmid, sometimes with deletion of segments of plasmid DNA. The physical maps of these plasmids were related to their phenotypes in respect of lethal zygosis and transfer properties. In vivo recombination tests between pairs of variant plasmids were also done. These physical and genetic studies indicated that determinants of conjugal transfer occupy less than 2.1 kb of the plasmid. A second segment is required for spread of the plasmid within a plasmid-free culture to produce the normal lethal zygosis phenotype: insertion of foreign DNA in this region caused a marked reduction in the diameter of lethal zygosis zones. The minimum replicon was deduced to be 2.1 kb or less in size; adjacent to this region is a 0.5 kb segment which may be required for stable inheritance of the plasmid. The copy number of several derivatives of pIJ101 in S. lividans 66 was between 40 and 300 per chromosome and appeared to vary with the age or physiological state of the culture. pIJ101 derivatives have a wide host range within the genus Streptomyces: 13 out of 18 strains, of diverse species, were successfully transformed. Knowledge of dispensable DNA segments and the availability of restriction sites for the insertion of DNA, deduced from the properties of plasmids carrying the E. coli plasmid pACYC184 introduced at various sites, was used in the construction of several derivatives of pIJ101 suitable as DNA cloning vectors. These were mostly designed to be non-conjugative and to carry pairs of resistance genes for selection. They include a bifunctional shuttle vector for E. coli and Streptomyces; a Streptomyces viomycin resistance gene of this plasmid is expressed in both hosts.     

Cloning of a streptomycin-production gene directing synthesis of N-methyl-l-glucosamine

A Streptomyces bikiniensis DNA fragment complementing a deficiency in streptomycin (Sm) production was cloned on the plasmid vector pIJ385. Host strain S. bikiniensis SD1 used as the recipient in cloning displayed deficiency in biosynthesis of N-methyl-l-glucosamine, one of the moieties of Sm. The cloned fragment on the multicopy plasmid pIJ385 conferred sevenfold increase in Sm production in comparison with the wild-type parental strain. By subcloning, the region complementing the Sm deficiency of SD1 was narrowed to a 3.0-kb fragment.     

A novel shuttle vector for Streptomyces spp. and Escherichia coli as a tool in site-directed mutagenesis.

This paper describes the construction and utilization of a novel shuttle vector for Streptomyces spp. and Escherichia coli as a useful vector in site-directed mutagenesis. The shuttle vector pIAFS20 (6.7 kb) has the following features: a replicon for Streptomyces spp., isolated from plasmid pIJ702; the thiostrepton-resistance gene as a selective marker in Streptomyces; the ColE1 origin, allowing replication in E. coli; and the ampicillin-resistance gene as a selective marker in E. coli. Vector pIAFS20 also contains the phage f1 intergenic region, which permits production of single-stranded DNA in E. coli after superinfection with helper phage M13K07. Moreover, the lac promoter is located in front of the multiple cloning sites cassette, allowing eventual expression of the cloned genes in E. coli. After mutagenesis and screening of the mutants in E. coli, the plasmids can be readily used to transform Streptomyces spp. As a demonstration, a 3.2-kb DNA fragment containing the gene encoding the xylanase A from Streptomyces lividans 1326 was inserted into pIAFS20, and the promoter region of this gene served as a target for site-directed mutagenesis. The two deletions reported here confirm the efficiency of this new vector as a tool in mutagenesis.     

Cloning of grisin resistance gene gsr and the study of its functioning in Streptomyces griseus Kr. strain

S. griseus Kr. is a commercial strain producing grisin, an antibiotic of the streptothricin group used as a feed additive. It was shown earlier that genetic instability of the strain was very high which was evident from a high frequency of nonreverting Grn- Grns mutants. With densitographic analysis of chromosomal DNA electrophoregrams and DNA-DNA hybridization it was revealed that the molecular basis of the genetic instability of the S. griseus strain was deletion of a DNA fragment about 20 kb in size containing a grisin resistance gene. The resistance gene designated as gsr was cloned to S. lividans TK 64 within the plasmid vector pIJ699. The restriction map of a cloned DNA fragment with a gsr gene was constructed and its similarity to that of a nat gene resistant to norseothricin, another streptothricin was observed. Introduction of a gsr gene within the multicopy plasmid pIJ699 into S. griseus 212, a highly productive strain synthesiing the antibiotic, led to an increase in its resistance and productivity. Proceeding from the preliminary data on possible linkage of a gsr gene and grisin biosynthesis genes, it appeared possible to use the cloned gene as a molecular probe in cloning the biosynthesis genes.     

Molecular cloning and expression in Streptomyces lividans of a hygromycin B phosphotransferase gene from Streptomyces hygroscopicus

The gene encoding the phosphotransferase enzyme that modifies hygromycin B in its producing organism $\text{Streptomyces hygroscopicus}$, has been cloned in the $\text{Streptomyces}$ vector pIJ41. Two plasmids, pFM4 and pFM6, containing 2.1 and 19.6 kb inserts of $\text{Streptomyces hygroscopicus}$ DNA, respectively, which express the modifying enzyme, have been isolated. A 3.1 kb PstI restriction fragment from pFM4 was inserted in the $\text{Streptomyces}$ vector pIJ350 and the resulting plasmids, pMZ11.1 and pMZ11.2, express the hygromycin B-resistance phenotype. The utility of this dominant marker for cloning experiments is discussed in the text.     

Chloramphenicol resistance in Streptomyces: cloning and characterization of a chloramphenicol hydrolase gene from Streptomyces venezuelae

A 6.5 kb DNA fragment containing a chloramphenicol-resistance gene of Streptomyces venezuelae ISP5230 was cloned in Streptomyces lividans M252 using the high-copy-number plasmid vector pIJ702. The gene was located within a 2.4 kb KpnI-SstI fragment of the cloned DNA and encoded an enzyme (chloramphenicol hydrolase) that catalysed removal of the dichloroacetyl moiety from the antibiotic. The deacylated product, p-nitrophenylserinol, was metabolized to p-nitrobenzyl alcohol and other compounds by enzymes present in S. lividans M252. Examination of the genomic DNA from several sources using the cloned 6.5 kb SstI fragment from S. venezuelae ISP5230 as a probe showed a hybridizing region in the DNA from S. venezuelae 13s but none in the DNA from another chloramphenicol producer, Streptomyces phaeochromogenes NRRLB 3559. The resistance phenotype was not expressed when the 6.5 kb SstI fragment or a subfragment was subcloned behind the lac-promoter of plasmid pTZ18R in Escherichia coli.