Efficient transformation and expression of the glucanase gene from Bacillus megaterium in the biocontrol strain Streptomyces lydicus A02

Streptomyces have been used extensively as the biocontrol agents due to their ability to produce various antimicrobial compounds, such as antibiotics and hydrolytic enzymes. Streptomyces lydicus strain A02, which was isolated from the soil of suburban forest field in Beijing (China), is capable of producing natamycin and has proved to be a potential biocontrol agent to several plant fungal diseases, including wilts caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. spp. However, hydrolytic enzymes like glucanase have not been detected in S. lydicus A02 on CMC-Na plates by congo red staining. Glucanase, a pathogenesis-related (PR) protein, degrades fungal cell walls and has been widely used as antifungal agent in plant protection. Therefore, a recombinant S. lydicus expressing a glucanase gene, which was cloned from the biocontrol strain Bacillus megaterium L103 and driven by the Streptomyces erythraea ermE* promoter, was constructed in this study. The engineered S. lydicus AG02 shared a similar yield of natamycin with the wild-type A02 strain. Compared to the wild-type strain A02, the engineered S. lydicus AG02 had a remarkably higher glucanase activity, as well as antifungal activity to F. oxysporum f. sp. conglutinans, F. oxysporum f. sp. niveum and Rhizoctonia cerealis. This demonstrated the improved biocontrol effect of S. lydicus AG02 attributed to transforming the exogenous glucanase from B. megaterium, which acted synergistically with natamycin to increase the antifungal activity of the strain.     

利迪链霉菌A02抗真菌活性产物的分离和结构鉴定

利迪链霉菌A02是从京郊森林土壤中分离筛选出的植物病原真菌高效拮抗菌株。为了明确其抑菌活性的物质基础,利用大孔树脂和硅胶吸附柱层析、HPLC循环制备分离等方法,从菌株A02发酵液中分离获得了纯度达99.845%以上的单一组分活性化合物。经紫外光谱、高分辨质谱、红外光谱和核磁共振谱的测定和解析,确定了该活性化合物的分子量为665,分子式为C33H47NO13,化学结构与四烯大环内酯类抗生素纳他霉素相同。这一结果揭示了利迪链霉菌产生抗真菌天然产物的新功能,并为纳他霉素在植物病害生物防治中的应用开拓了新的途径。     

Heterologous coexpression of Vitreoscilla hemoglobin and Bacillus megaterium glucanase in Streptomyces lydicus A02 enhanced its production of antifungal metabolites

Streptomyces lydicus A02 is a novel producer of commercially important polyene macrocyclic antibiotic natamycin and a potential biocontrol agent to several plant fungal diseases, including wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. spp. To improve the natamycin production and the antifungal activity of S. lydicus A02, we coexpressed gene vgb encoding Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb) and bglC encoding Bacillus megaterium L103 glucanase, both under the control of the strong constitutive ermE* promoter, in S. lydicus A02. Our results showed that coexpressing VHb and glucanase improved cell growth, and the engineered strain produced 26.90% more biomass than the wild-type strain after 72 h fermentation in YSG medium. In addition, coexpressing genes encoding VHb and glucanase led to increased natamycin production, higher endogenous chitinase activity and exogenous glucanase activity, as well as enhanced antifungal activity in the engineered S. lydicus AVG02 and AGV02, regardless of the position of the two genes on the plasmids. Compared with model strains, few reports have successfully coexpressed VHb and other foreign proteins in industrial strains. Our results illustrated an effective approach for improving antifungal activity in an industrial strain by the rational engineering of combined favorable factors.     

Effects of cultivation conditions on the production of natamycin with Streptomyces gilvosporeus LK-196

Natamycin is a very attractive antifungal agent with wide applications in medical and food industries. In order to improve the productivity of natamycin, the effects of cultivation conditions were investigated with Streptomyces gilvosporeus LK-196 in the shake flasks and 30-L fermentors. The results showed that dissolved oxygen and shear force would affluence the biosynthesis of natamycin significantly. The high concentration of natamycin (2.03g/L) was achieved under the suitable culture conditions in the shake flask scale. Further investigations in 30-L fermentors showed that the optimal pH was controlled at 6.0 during the whole bioprocess, and the dissolved oxygen level should be more than 30% by adjusting the aeration and agitation rates for high production of natamycin. Under these optimal conditions the high concentration of natamycin (3.94g/L) was achieved with Str. gilvosporeus LK-196 in the 30-L fermentor. Finally, the high-level fermentation process was successfully scaled up to 1000-L fermentors and 18,000-L fermentors in the pilot plant.     

Improvement in natamycin production by Streptomyces natalensis with the addition of short-chain carboxylic acids

Natamycin is an important tetraene (polyene) antibiotic produced in submerged culture by different strains of Streptomyces sp. In the present work, the effects of the addition of short-chain carboxylic acids (acetic, propionic and butyric) on cell growth and the kinetics of natamycin production were investigated during submerged cultivation of Streptomyces natalensis. The addition of acetic and propionic acids showed stimulatory effects on natamycin production when added to the fermentation medium at concentrations below 2 g L^?1 at the beginning of cultivation. In addition, when acetic and propionic acids were added in a mixture (7:1) at a total concentration of 2 g L^?1, antibiotic production increased significantly, reaching 3.0 g L^?1 (approximately 223% and 250% increases in volumetric and specific antibiotic production, respectively, compared with the control culture). Moreover, the addition of carboxylic acids not only increased the antibiotic yield but also decreased the production time from 96 h to only 84 h in shake-flask cultures. A further enhancement in natamycin production was achieved by cultivation in a 2-L stirred-tank bioreactor under controlled pH conditions. The maximum volumetric production of 3.98 g L^?1 was achieved after 84 h in carboxylic acid-supplemented culture (acetate and propionate in a ratio of 7:1).     

Enhancement of natamycin production on Streptomyces gilvosporeus by chromosomal integration of the Vitreoscilla hemoglobin gene (vgb)

Oxygen deficiency is a critical factor during the fermentation production of natamycin. In order to alleviate oxygen limitation and enhance the yield of natamycin, the vgb gene, encoding Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb) was inserted into pSET152 with its native promoter and integrated into the chromosome of Streptomyces gilvosporeus (S. gilvosporeus). The expression of VHb was determined by Western blotting. The activity of expressed VHb was confirmed by the observation of VHb-specific CO-difference spectrum with a maximal absorption at 419 nm for the recombinant. Integration of the empty plasmid pSET152 did not affect natamycin production of S. gilvosporeus. While the vgb-harboring strain exhibited high natamycin productivity, reaching 3.31 g/L in shake flasks and 8.24 g/L in 1-L fermenters. Compared to the wild strain, expression of VHb, increased the natamycin yield of the strain bearing vgb by 131.3 % (jar fermenter scale) and 175 % (shake flask scale), respectively, under certain oxygen-limiting condition. Addition of an extra copy of the vgb gene in S. gilvosporeus-vgb2 did not enhance the natamycin production obviously. These results provided a superior natamycin-producing strain which can be directly used in industry and a useful strategy for increasing yields of other metabolites in industrial strains.     

Phosphorylated AbsA2 negatively regulates antibiotic production in Streptomyces coelicolor through interactions with pathway-specific regulatory gene promoters

The AbsA two-component signal transduction system, comprised of the sensor kinase AbsA1 and the response regulator AbsA2, acts as a negative regulator of antibiotic production in Streptomyces coelicolor, for which the phosphorylated form of AbsA2 (AbsA2 approximately P) is the agent of repression. In this study, we used chromatin immunoprecipitation to show that AbsA2 binds the promoter regions of actII-ORF4, cdaR, and redZ, which encode pathway-specific activators for actinorhodin, calcium-dependent antibiotic, and undecylprodigiosin, respectively. We confirm that these interactions also occur in vitro and that the binding of AbsA2 to each gene is enhanced by phosphorylation. Induced expression of actII-ORF4 and redZ in the hyperrepressive absA1 mutant (C542) brought about pathway-specific restoration of actinorhodin and undecylprodigiosin production, respectively. Our results suggest that AbsA2 approximately P interacts with as many as four sites in the region that includes the actII-ORF4 promoter. These data suggest that AbsA2 approximately P inhibits antibiotic production by directly interfering with the expression of pathway-specific regulators of antibiotic biosynthetic gene clusters.     

Iteratively improving natamycin production in Streptomyces gilvosporeus by a large operon-reporter based strategy

Many high-value secondary metabolites are assembled by very large multifunctional polyketide synthases or non-ribosomal peptide synthetases encoded by giant genes, for instance, natamycin production in an industrial strain of Streptomyces gilvosporeus. In this study, a large operon reporter-based selection system has been developed using the selectable marker gene neo to report the expression both of the large polyketide synthase genes and of the entire gene cluster, thereby facilitating the selection of natamycin-overproducing mutants by iterative random mutagenesis breeding. In three successive rounds of mutagenesis and selection, the natamycin titer was increased by 110%, 230%, and 340%, respectively, and the expression of the whole biosynthetic gene cluster was correspondingly increased. An additional copy of the natamycin gene cluster was found in one overproducer. These findings support the large operon reporter-based selection system as a useful tool for the improvement of industrial strains utilized in the production of polyketides and non-ribosomal peptides.     

Investigation of proteomic responses of Streptomyces lydicus to pitching ratios for improving streptolydigin production

Streptomyces lydicus has been reported to produce antibiotic streptolydigin. Pitching ratios play crucial roles in primary and secondary metabolism of Streptomyces bacteria. The higher pitching ratio (30%, v/v) significantly enhanced the levels of streptolydigin products in S. lydicus. Proteome analysis revealed that betaglucosidase and UTP-glucose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase were up-regulated to accelerate the starch hydrolyzation at the high pitching ratios. Enhancement in the levels of UDPN-acetylmuramoylalanyl-D-glutamate-2, 6-diaminopimelate ligase and glycine cleavage system aminomethyltransferase were involved in the conversion of amino acids into secondary metabolites. Additionally, the expression levels of PfkA2, PfkA3, Zwf2, SucD, GalE1, GatB, TktA1 and ThcA, associated with glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway, TCA cycle and amino acid metabolism, were dramatically elevated at high pitching ratios, which play important roles in the enhanced streptolydigin production in S. lydicus E9. Interestingly, the levels of proteins (glutamine synthetase I, glutamate synthase subunit beta and glutamine synthetase) were down-regulated with the increases of pitching ratios and fermentation progress, revealing that pitching ratio altered the glutamine synthetase levels and consequently regulated the streptolydigin production of S. lydicus E9. The up-regulation of proteins (eg, aldehyde dehydrogenase and alkyl hydroperoxide reductase) was involved in the redox-based regulation network triggered by an imbalance of the intracellular cell redox homeostasis and by crosstalk with secondary metabolism at the higher pitching ratio. These results settle new insights into physiological facts of S. lydicus E9 in responses to pitching ratios and will eventually improve the antibiotic production schemes in industry.     

A novel Streptomyces gene, samR, with different effects on differentiation of Streptomyces ansochromogenes and Streptomyces coelicolor

A 1.4-kb DNA fragment from Streptomyces ansochromogenes accelerated mycelium formation of S. ansochromogenes when present on a multicopy plasmid. The DNA fragment contains one complete open reading frame, designated samR, encoding a protein with 213 amino acids that contains a likely DNA-binding helix-turn-helix motif close to its N-terminus. The deduced SamR protein resembles the product of the hppR gene, which is involved in the regulation of catabolism of 3-(3-hydroxyphenyl) propionate in Rhodococcus globerulus. A samR disruption mutant was constructed that presented a bald phenotype and failed to form aerial hyphae and spores. We suggest that samR plays an important role in the emergence of aerial hyphae from substrate mycelium. An almost identical gene of Streptomyces coelicolor was also subjected to gene disruption. Surprisingly, the mutant was able to develop an aerial mycelium, but it remained white and deficient in sporulation instead of forming gray spores.     

Insights into the roles of exogenous glutamate and proline in improving streptolydigin production of Streptomyces lydicus with metabolomic analysis

The addition of precursors was one strategy to improve antibiotic production. The exogenous proline and glutamate, as precursors of streptolydigin, could significantly improve the streptolydigin production, but their underlying molecular mechanisms remain unknown. Herein, metabolomic analysis was carried out to explore the metabolic responses of Streptomyces lydicus to the additions of proline and glutamine. The significant differences in the quantified 53 metabolites after adding the exogenous proline and glutamate were enunciated by gas chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Among them, the levels of some fatty acids (e.g., dodecanoic acid, octadecanoic acid, hexadecanoic acid) were significantly decreased after adding glutamate and proline, indicating that the inhibition of fatty acid synthesis might be benefit for the accumulation of streptolydigin. Particularly, the dramatic changes of the identified metabolites, which are involved in glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and the amino acid and fatty acid metabolism, revealed that the additions of glutamate and proline possibly caused the metabolic cross-talk in S. lydicus. Additionally, the level of intracellular glutamate dramatically enhanced at 12 h after adding proline, showing that exogenous proline may be firstly convert into glutamate and consequently result in crease of the streptolydigin production. The high levels of streptolydigin at 12 and 24 h after adding glutamate unveiled that part glutamate were rapidly used to synthesize the streptolydigin. Furthermore, there is the significant difference in metabolomic characteristics of S. lydicus after adding glutamate and proline, uncovering that multiple regulatory pathways are involved in responses to the additions of exogenous glutamate and proline. Taken together, exogenous glutamate and proline not only directly provided the precursors of streptolydigin biosynthesis, but also might alter the metabolic homeostasis of S. lydicus E9 during improving the production of streptolydigin.     

Effect of liquid culture requirements on antifungal antibiotic production by Streptomyces rimosus MY02

Streptomyces rimosus MY02 was isolated from a soil sample which was collected from the northeast of China. The effect of medium components (i.e. carbon and nitrogen sources) and other culture requirements (i.e. initial pH and temperature) on production of antifungal antibiotics by S. rimosus MY02 was investigated in our work. The best conditions for the strain MY02 in 250-ml Erlenmeyer flask, for example, initial pH, temperature, medium capacity, agitation rate, seed age, inoculum size and growth period, were 6.0, 28 degrees C, 50 ml, 180 rpm, 4 days, 10% (v/v) and 120 h, respectively. Components and dosage of the medium, which effect antibiotic production, were determined by uniform design combined with regression analysis; meanwhile, a regression model was established. The components and dosage of the best medium were starch, 53.313 g; defatted peanut powder, 9.376 g; (NH(4))(2)SO(4), 6.244 g; and NaCl, 5.836 g; in 1l of distilled water. Residual values obtained between the observed values by experiments and predicted values by the model are very low, and this result showed that the experimental results were well in consistence with the calculation results via the model. The antifungal antibiotic production by S. rimosus MY02 was improved by optimization of the components and culture requirements. The diameter of inhibition zone of the culture supernatant from S. rimosus MY02 against Fusarium oxysporium f sp. cucumarinum was 33.19 mm.     

不同启动子控制下木酮糖激酶的差异表达及其对酿酒酵母木糖代谢的影响

[目的]以不同强度的启动子控制表达木酮糖激酶基因,并研究其引起的不同木酮糖激酶活性水平对木糖利用酿酒酵母(Saccharomyces cerevisiae)代谢流向的影响.[方法]以酿酒酵母CEN.PK 113-5D为出发菌株,选择酿酒酵母内源启动子TEF1p,PGK1p和HXK2p,利用Cre-loxP无标记同源重组系统,置换染色体上木酮糖激酶基因XKS1的启动子(XKS1p)序列;并通过附加体质粒引入木糖代谢上游途径,构建不同水平表达木酮糖激酶的木糖利用工程菌株;从木酮糖激酶的转录水平、酶活水平、胞内的ATP浓度及木糖代谢等性状,对各菌株进行评价.[结果]转录及酶活测定结果显示,与天然状态相比,所选择的启动子对木酮糖激酶均表现出更强的启动效率.菌株体内表达木酮糖激酶活性水平由高至低的顺序为其基因XKS1在启动子PGK1p、TEF1p、HXK2p和XKS1p控制下.随着木酮糖激酶的活性的提高,胞内的ATP水平下降,而转化木糖生成乙醇的能力上升.最高乙醇产率为0.35g/g消耗的总糖,此时副产物木糖醇产率最低,为0.18g/g消耗的木糖.[结论]通过在染色体上置换启动子,提高了木酮糖激酶的表达水平.在一定范围内,木酮糖激酶的高活性有利于木糖向乙醇的转化.     

纳他霉素高产菌株Streptomyces gilvosporeus F607基因组及其生物合成基因簇分析

【背景】纳他霉素(Natamycin)是一种天然、广谱、高效的多烯大环内酯类抗真菌剂,褐黄孢链霉菌(Streptomyces gilvosporeus)是一种重要的纳他霉素产生菌。目前S. gilvosporeus基因组序列分析还未有报道,限制了该菌中纳他霉素及其他次级代谢产物合成及调控的研究。【目的】解析纳他霉素高产菌株S. gilvosporeus F607的基因组序列信息,挖掘其次级代谢产物基因资源,为深入研究该菌株的纳他霉素高产机理及生物合成调控机制奠定基础。【方法】利用相关软件对F607菌株的基因组序列进行基因预测、功能注释、进化分析和共线性分析,并预测次级代谢产物合成基因簇;对纳他霉素生物合成基因簇进行注释分析,比较分析不同菌种中纳他霉素生物合成基因簇的差异;分析预测S.gilvosporeusF607中纳他霉素生物合成途径。【结果】F607菌株基因组总长度为8482298bp,(G+C)mol%为70.95%,分别在COG、GO、KEGG数据库提取到5 062、4 428、5063个基因的注释信息。同时,antiSMASH软件预测得到29个次级代谢产物合成基因簇,其中纳他霉素基因簇与S.natalensis、S. chattanoogensis等菌株的纳他霉素基因簇相似性分别为81%和77%。除2个参与调控的sngT和sgnH基因和9个未知功能的orf基因有差异外,S. gilvosporeus F607基因簇中其他纳他霉素生物合成基因及其排列顺序与已知的纳他霉素基因簇高度一致。【结论】分析了S. gilvosporeus全基因组信息,预测了S. gilvosporeus F607中纳他霉素生物合成的途径,为从基因组层面上解析S. gilvosporeus F607菌株高产纳他霉素的内在原因提供了基础数据,为揭示纳他霉素高产的机理及工业化生产和未来新药的发现奠定了良好的基础。     

Construction of a Streptomyces lydicus A01 transformant with a chit42 gene from Trichoderma harzianum P1 and evaluation of its biocontrol activity against Botrytis cinerea

Streptomyces lydicus A01 and Trichoderma harzianum P1 are potential biocontrol agents of fungal diseases in plants. S. lydicus A01 produces natamycin to bind the ergosterol of the fungal cell membrane and inhibits the growth of Botrytis cinerea. T. harzianum P1, on the other hand, features high chitinase activity and decomposes the chitin in the cell wall of B. cinerea. To obtain the synergistic biocontrol effects of chitinase and natamycin on Botrytis cinerea, this study transformed the chit42 gene from T. harzianum P1 to S. lydicus A01. The conjugal transformant (CT) of S. lydicus A01 with the chit42 gene was detected using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Associated chitinase activity and natamycin production were examined using the 3, 5-dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) method and ultraviolet spectrophotometry, respectively. The S. lydicus A01-chit42 CT showed substantially higher chitinase activity and natamycin production than its wild type strain (WT). Consequently, the biocontrol effects of S. lydicus A01-chit42 CT on B. cinerea, including inhibition to spore germination and mycelial growth, were highly improved compared with those of the WT. Our research indicates that the biocontrol effect of Streptomyces can be highly improved by transforming the exogenous resistance gene, i.e. chit42 from Trichoderma, which not only enhances the production of antibiotics, but also provides a supplementary function by degrading the cell walls of the pathogens.     

Comparison of different constitutive and inducible promoters for the overexpression of transgenes in Arabidopsis thaliana

We compared the organ specificity and the strength of different constitutive (CaMV-35S, CaMV-35Somega, Arabidopsis ubiquitin UBQ1, and barley leaf thionin BTH6 promoter) and one inducible promoter (soybean heat-shock promoter Gmshp17.3) in stably transformed Arabidopsis thaliana plants. For this purpose we constructed a set of plant expression vectors equipped with the different promoters. Using the uidA reporter gene we could show that the CaMV-35S promoter has the highest expression level which was enhanced two-to threefold by the addition of a translational enhancer (TMV omega element) without altering the organ specificity of the promoter. The barley leaf thionin promoter was almost inactive in the majority of lines whereas the ubiquitin promoter exhibited an intermediate strength. The heat-shock promoter was inducible up to 18-fold but absolute levels were lower than in the case of the ubiquitin promoter. Conclusive quantitative results for different organs and developmental stages were obtained by the analysis of 24 stably transformed lines per promoter construct.