天蓝色链霉菌孢子形成的关键基因——whiG的诱导表达

与链霉菌分化有关的whiG结构基因已亚克隆到链霉菌表达载体pAK203的tipA启动子下游.该启动子能被硫链丝菌素诱导.whiG基因的诱导表达不仅可使天蓝色链霉菌孢子形成缺陷突变株C71恢复产生孢子的能力,而且也能使天蓝色链霉菌野生型菌株J1501和变铅青链霉菌TK54的孢子形成更为丰满.Western杂交也进一步证实了诱导表达后whiG基因产物——σ~(whiG)产量的增加.这为依赖于σ~(whiG)RNA多聚酶的发育调控启动子体外转录的研究提供了有利条件.     

Stress-activated expression of a Streptomyces pristinaespiralis multidrug resistance gene (ptr) in various Streptomyces spp. and Escherichia coli

A promoter which controls expression of the pristinamycin multidrug resistance gene ( ptr ) in Streptomyces pristinaspiralis could be induced by physiological stresses in both Streptomyces spp. and Escherichia coli . In S. pristinaspiralis , the ptr promoter ( Pptr ) was induced by pristinamycin I (PI) or pristinamycin II (PII). Streptomyces lividans was adopted as a convenient heterologous host for studies of Pptr regulation since it has no known pristinamycin biosynthetic genes. Two key regulatory features were documented in these studies: many (19 of 70) antibiotics and chemicals with no common targets or structural features induced the Pptr ; induction with PI was most efficient during a transition phase when antibiotic biosynthetic genes are switched on. In Streptomyces coelicolor, Pptr activity was similarly inducible by PI and not dependent on sigma factors HrdA, HrdC, or HrdD. In E. coli, Pptr cloned in the bifunctional promoter probe vector plJ2839 was functional and activated upon entry into stationary phase in the absence of exogenous inducer. Finally, gel-retardation studies demonstrated a Pptr -binding protein in S. lividans (where its activity was PI-inducible), S. coelicolor and S. pristinaespiralis . The fact that this activity was not detected in E. coli suggested the existence of another regulatory system perhaps also present in 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.     

透明颤菌血红蛋白在肉桂地链霉菌中的表达对基因细胞生长及抗生素合成的影响

肉桂地链霉菌（S.cinnamonensis)是莫能菌素（Monensin)的产生菌,大肠杆菌－链霉菌穿梭表达载体pHZ1252中的透明颤菌血红蛋白基因（vhb)位于硫链丝菌素诱导启动子ＰtipA之下,它在肉桂地链霉菌中的结构不稳定,,发生了重组缺失,缺失的片段包括大肠杆菌质粒部分vhb基因。但来自阿维链霉菌(S.avermitilis)中缺失了大肠杆菌质粒部分却保留了完整的vhb基因及tipA启动子的pHZ1252,可在肉桂地链霉菌中稳定复制,不再发生缺失,经硫链丝菌素诱导表达出了有生物活性的ＶＨb蛋白,摇瓶发酵实验证明,ＶＨb蛋白在氧限条件下可明显促进肉桂地链霉菌的菌体生长和抗生素合成。     

Production of l-DOPA by Aspergillus terreus

The sinefungin producing, pock forming strain Streptomyces incarnatus was shown to be thiostrepton resistant. However, it does not produce thiostrepton and structurally related antibiotics. In this strain, five low copy plasmids of variable sizes were detected with electron microscopy. The strain S. lividans TK24 became thiostrepton resistant upon transformation by one of the plasmids of S. incarnatus.     

Characterization of an autonomously replicating region from the Streptomyces lividans chromosome.

The chromosomal replication origin of the plasmidless derivative (TK21) from Streptomyces lividans 66 has been cloned as an autonomously replicating minichromosome (pSOR1) by using the thiostrepton resistance gene as a selectable marker. pSOR1 could be recovered as a closed circular plasmid which shows high segregational instability. pSOR1 was shown to replicate in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) and in S. lividans 66 and hybridized with DNA from several different Streptomyces strains. Physical mapping revealed that oriC is located on a 330-kb AseI fragment of the S. coelicolor A3(2) chromosome. DNA sequence analyses showed that the cloned chromosomal oriC region contains numerous DnaA boxes which are arranged in two clusters. The preferred sequence identified in the oriC region of Escherichia coli and several other bacteria is TTATCCACA. In contrast, in S. lividans, which has a high GC content, the preferred sequence for DnaA boxes appears to be TTGTCCACA.     

Cloning and characterization of a phosphate-regulated promoter involved in phosphate control of candicidin biosynthesis

Phosphate strongly repressed the formation of p-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) synthase, an enzyme involved in candicidin biosynthesis. Expression in Streptomyces lividans of the pabS gene (encoding PABA synthase) of Streptomyces griseus is repressed by phosphate at concentrations above 0.1 mM. However, expression of the pabS gene in Escherichia coli is not regulated by phosphate. Phosphate control of the expression of the pabS gene was observed in all plasmids containing the original 4.5-kb BamHI fragment, whereas no phosphate regulation was found when an upstream 1-kb fragment that carries the pabS promoter was deleted. Using the promoter-probe plasmid pIJ424, a '114-bp' promoter was cloned. Expression of the promoterless kanamycin phosphotransferase gene when fused to the '114-bp' promoter was strongly reduced by phosphate (90% at 5 mM concentration). The '114-bp' promoter has been sequenced and the first transcribed nucleotide identified by S1 mapping. The '114-bp' fragment is A + T-rich (54%), as compared to the Streptomyces genome (70-73% GC). The presence of a phosphate control sequence (pcs) in the upstream region of the pabS gene is proposed.     

A thiostrepton-inducible expression vector for use in Streptomyces spp

A shuttle expression vector containing the thiostrepton-inducible Streptomyces lividans promoter, ptipA, and the origin of transfer from plasmid RP4 was constructed. Cassettes containing a promoterless xylE gene upstream from a hyg gene were used to demonstrate thiostrepton-inducible expression from ptipA in both S. lividans and Streptomyces ambofaciens, ptipA was estimated to be induced 60-fold or more in Streptomyces ambofaciens.     

Molecular cloning of the nosiheptide resistance gene from Streptomyces actuosus ATCC 25421

An 8.5 kb BamHI DNA fragment conferring resistance to nosiheptide, a peptide antibiotic of the 'thiostrepton group', was cloned from Streptomyces actuosus ATCC 25421 in Streptomyces lividans 1326. Two BamHI fragments of S. actuosus, the 8.5 kb fragment and an additional 3.0 kb fragment, hybridized with a thiostrepton resistance gene probe (pIJ30). The 8.5 kb fragment showed a relatively low degree of homology with the thiostrepton resistance gene. The restriction map of the nosiheptide resistance gene isolated here was significantly different from the map of the thiostrepton resistance gene previously published.     

Cloning and amplified expression in Streptomyces lividans of the gene encoding the extracellular beta-lactamase from Streptomyces cacaoi

A 19 kb SphI DNA fragment containing the gene for the extracellular active-site serine beta-lactamase of Streptomyces cacaoi KCC-SO352 was cloned in Streptomyces lividans TK24 using the high-copy-number plasmid pIJ702 as vector. A 30-fold higher yield of beta-lactamase was obtained from S. lividans strain ML1, carrying the recombinant plasmid pDML51, than from S. cacaoi grown under optimal production conditions. In all respects (molecular mass, isoelectric point, kinetics of inhibition by beta-iodopenicillanate) the overproduced S. lividans ML1 beta-lactamase was identical to the original S. cacaoi enzyme. A considerable reduction of beta-lactamase production was caused by elimination of a 12.8 kb portion of the 19 kb DNA fragment by cleavage at an internal SphI site located more than 3 kb upstream of the beta-lactamase structural gene. The beta-lactamase gene was located within a 1.8 NcoI-BclI fragment but when this fragment was cloned in S. lividans pIJ702, the resulting strain produced hardly any more beta-lactamase than the original S. cacaoi.     

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.     

Cloning and sequence analysis of the highly expressed melanin-synthesizing gene operon from Streptomyces castaneoglobisporus

 Streptomyces castaneoglobisporus HUT6202 overproduces a diffusible melanin-like pigment. An operon, designated mel, containing a gene that encodes tyrosinase, which is involved in the synthesis of melanin pigment, was cloned from the chromosomal DNA of the microorganism into the high-copy plasmid pAK114 and expressed in S. lividans. The tyrosinase activity of the transformed cells was at approximately a 110-fold higher level than that of the same host carrying the plasmid pIJ702, which has the same replication origin as pAK114 and carries the mel operon from S. antibioticus. The sequence analysis of the S. castaneoglobisporus mel operon revealed that an open- reading frame consisting of 378 base pairs(bp), designated ORF378, was found upstream of the tyrosinase gene (TYRC) consisting of 819 bp. In the present study, we constructed a chimeric mel operon consisting of ORF378 from S. castaneoglobisporus and the tyrosinase gene (TYRA) from S. antibioticus. The chimeric mel operon or the S. antibioticus mel operon, which consists of ORF438 and TYRA, expressed the tyrosinase activity in Escherichia coli intracellularly when located under the control of lacZ promoter, and the tyrosinase activity from the former was at a 30-fold higher level than that from the latter. This suggests that the gene contributing to the high expression of the tyrosinase activity in S. castaneoglobisporus is ORF378, rather than TYRC. Received: 12 June 1995/Received revision: 24 July 1995/Accepted: 7 September 1995