Genomics of Sponge-Associated Streptomyces spp. Closely Related to Streptomyces albus J1074: Insights into Marine Adaptation and Secondary Metabolite Biosynthesis Potential

A total of 74 actinomycete isolates were cultivated from two marine sponges, Geodia barretti and Phakellia ventilabrum collected at the same spot at the bottom of the Trondheim fjord (Norway). Phylogenetic analyses of sponge-associated actinomycetes based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences demonstrated the presence of species belonging to the genera Streptomyces, Nocardiopsis, Rhodococcus, Pseudonocardia and Micromonospora. Most isolates required sea water for growth, suggesting them being adapted to the marine environment. Phylogenetic analysis of Streptomyces spp. revealed two isolates that originated from different sponges and had 99.7% identity in their 16S rRNA gene sequences, indicating that they represent very closely related strains. Sequencing, annotation, and analyses of the genomes of these Streptomyces isolates demonstrated that they are sister organisms closely related to terrestrial Streptomyces albus J1074. Unlike S. albus J1074, the two sponge streptomycetes grew and differentiated faster on the medium containing sea water. Comparative genomics revealed several genes presumably responsible for partial marine adaptation of these isolates. Genome mining targeted to secondary metabolite biosynthesis gene clusters identified several of those, which were not present in S. albus J1074, and likely to have been retained from a common ancestor, or acquired from other actinomycetes. Certain genes and gene clusters were shown to be differentially acquired or lost, supporting the hypothesis of divergent evolution of the two Streptomyces species in different sponge hosts.     

Identification and Analysis of the Paulomycin Biosynthetic Gene Cluster and Titer Improvement of the Paulomycins in Streptomyces paulus NRRL 8115

The paulomycins are a group of glycosylated compounds featuring a unique paulic acid moiety. To locate their biosynthetic gene clusters, the genomes of two paulomycin producers, Streptomyces paulus NRRL 8115 and Streptomyces sp. YN86, were sequenced. The paulomycin biosynthetic gene clusters were defined by comparative analyses of the two genomes together with the genome of the third paulomycin producer Streptomyces albus J1074. Subsequently, the identity of the paulomycin biosynthetic gene cluster was confirmed by inactivation of two genes involved in biosynthesis of the paulomycose branched chain (pau11) and the ring A moiety (pau18) in Streptomyces paulus NRRL 8115. After determining the gene cluster boundaries, a convergent biosynthetic model was proposed for paulomycin based on the deduced functions of the pau genes. Finally, a paulomycin high-producing strain was constructed by expressing an activator-encoding gene (pau13) in S. paulus, setting the stage for future investigations.     

Genome mining of Streptomyces ambofaciens

Since the discovery of the streptomycin produced by Streptomyces griseus in the middle of the last century, members of this bacterial genus have been largely exploited for the production of secondary metabolites with wide uses in medicine and in agriculture. They have even been recognized as one of the most prolific producers of natural products among microorganisms. With the onset of the genomic era, it became evident that these microorganisms still represent a major source for the discovery of novel secondary metabolites. This was highlighted with the complete genome sequencing of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) which revealed an unexpected potential of this organism to synthesize natural products undetected until then by classical screening methods. Since then, analysis of sequenced genomes from numerous Streptomyces species has shown that a single species can carry more than 30 secondary metabolite gene clusters, reinforcing the idea that the biosynthetic potential of this bacterial genus is far from being fully exploited. This review highlights our knowledge on the potential of Streptomyces ambofaciens ATCC 23877 to synthesize natural products. This industrial strain was known for decades to only produce the drug spiramycin and another antibacterial compound, congocidine. Mining of its genome allowed the identification of 23 clusters potentially involved in the production of other secondary metabolites. Studies of some of these clusters resulted in the characterization of novel compounds and of previously known compounds but never characterized in this Streptomyces species. In addition, genome mining revealed that secondary metabolite gene clusters of phylogenetically closely related Streptomyces are mainly species-specific.     

Activation and silencing of secondary metabolites in Streptomyces albus and Streptomyces lividans after transformation with cosmids containing the thienamycin gene cluster from Streptomyces cattleya

Activation and silencing of antibiotic production was achieved in Streptomyces albus J1074 and Streptomyces lividans TK21 after introduction of genes within the thienamycin cluster from S. cattleya. Dramatic phenotypic and metabolic changes, involving activation of multiple silent secondary metabolites and silencing of others normally produced, were found in recombinant strains harbouring the thienamycin cluster in comparison to the parental strains. In S. albus, ultra-performance liquid chromatography purification and NMR structural elucidation revealed the identity of four structurally related activated compounds: the antibiotics paulomycins A, B and the paulomenols A and B. Four volatile compounds whose biosynthesis was switched off were identified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analyses and databases comparison as pyrazines; including tetramethylpyrazine, a compound with important clinical applications to our knowledge never reported to be produced by Streptomyces. In addition, this work revealed the potential of S. albus to produce many others secondary metabolites normally obtained from plants, including compounds of medical relevance as dihydro-β-agarofuran and of interest in perfume industry as β-patchoulene, suggesting that it might be an alternative model for their industrial production. In S. lividans, actinorhodins production was strongly activated in the recombinant strains whereas undecylprodigiosins were significantly reduced. Activation of cryptic metabolites in Streptomyces species might represent an alternative approach for pharmaceutical drug discovery.     

东乡野生稻内生放线菌Streptomyces sp. PRh5的全基因组测序及序列分析

【目的】Streptomyces sp. PRh5是从东乡野生稻(Oryza rufipogon Griff.)中分离获得的一株对细菌和真菌都具有较强抗菌活性的内生放线菌。为深入研究PRh5菌株抗菌机制及挖掘次级代谢产物基因资源,有必要解析PRh5菌株的基因组序列信息。【方法】采用高通量测序技术对PRh5菌株进行全基因组测序,然后使用相关软件对测序数据进行基因组组装、基因预测与功能注释、直系同源簇(COG)聚类分析、共线性分析及次级代谢产物合成基因簇预测等。【结果】基因组组装获得290 contigs,整个基因组大小约11.1 Mb,GC含量为71.1%,序列已提交至GenBank数据库,登录号为JABQ00000000。同时,预测得到50个次级代谢产物合成基因簇。【结论】将为Streptomyces sp. PRh5的功能基因组学研究及相关次级代谢产物的生物合成途径与异源表达研究提供基础。     

Salinomycin biosynthesis reversely regulates the β-oxidation pathway in Streptomyces albus by carrying a 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase gene in its biosynthetic gene cluster

Streptomyces is well known for synthesis of many biologically active secondary metabolites, such as polyketides and non-ribosomal peptides. Understanding the coupling mechanisms of primary and secondary metabolism can help develop strategies to improve secondary metabolite production in Streptomyces. In this work, Streptomyces albus ZD11, an oil-preferring industrial Streptomyces strain, was proved to have a remarkable capability to generate abundant acyl-CoA precursors for salinomycin biosynthesis with the aid of its enhanced β-oxidation pathway. It was found that the salinomycin biosynthetic gene cluster contains a predicted 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (FadB3), which is the third enzyme of β-oxidation cycle. Deletion of fadB3 significantly reduced the production of salinomycin. A variety of experimental evidences showed that FadB3 was mainly involved in the β-oxidation pathway rather than ethylmalonyl-CoA biosynthesis and played a very important role in regulating the rate of β-oxidation in S. albus ZD11. Our findings elucidate an interesting coupling mechanism by which a PKS biosynthetic gene cluster could regulate the β-oxidation pathway by carrying β-oxidation genes, enabling Streptomyces to efficiently synthesize target polyketides and economically utilize environmental nutrients.     

Identification and activation of novel biosynthetic gene clusters by genome mining in the kirromycin producer <Emphasis Type="Italic">Streptomyces collinus</Emphasis> Tü 365

Streptomycetes are prolific sources of novel biologically active secondary metabolites with pharmaceutical potential. S. collinus Tü 365 is a Streptomyces strain, isolated 1972 from Kouroussa (Guinea). It is best known as producer of the antibiotic kirromycin, an inhibitor of the protein biosynthesis interacting with elongation factor EF-Tu. Genome Mining revealed 32 gene clusters encoding the biosynthesis of diverse secondary metabolites in the genome of Streptomyces collinus Tü 365, indicating an enormous biosynthetic potential of this strain. The structural diversity of secondary metabolisms predicted for S. collinus Tü 365 includes PKS, NRPS, PKS-NRPS hybrids, a lanthipeptide, terpenes and siderophores. While some of these gene clusters were found to contain genes related to known secondary metabolites, which also could be detected in HPLC–MS analyses, most of the uncharacterized gene clusters are not expressed under standard laboratory conditions. With this study we aimed to characterize the genome information of S. collinus Tü 365 to make use of gene clusters, which previously have not been described for this strain. We were able to connect the gene clusters of a lanthipeptide, a carotenoid, five terpenoid compounds, an ectoine, a siderophore and a spore pigment-associated gene cluster to their respective biosynthesis products.     

Valinomycin Biosynthetic Gene Cluster in Streptomyces: Conservation,Ecology and Evolution

Many Streptomyces strains are known to produce valinomycin (VLM) antibiotic and the VLM biosynthetic gene cluster (vlm) has been characterized in two independent isolates. Here we report the phylogenetic relationships of these strains using both parsimony and likelihood methods, and discuss whether the vlm gene cluster shows evidence of horizontal transmission common in natural product biosynthetic genes. Eight Streptomyces strains from around the world were obtained and sequenced for three regions of the two large nonribosomal peptide synthetase genes (vlm1 and vlm2) involved in VLM biosynthesis. The DNA sequences representing the vlm gene cluster are highly conserved among all eight environmental strains. The geographic distribution pattern of these strains and the strict congruence between the trees of the two vlm genes and the housekeeping genes, 16S rDNA and trpB, suggest vertical transmission of the vlm gene cluster in Streptomyces with no evidence of horizontal gene transfer. We also explored the relationship of the sequence of vlm genes to that of the cereulide biosynthetic genes (ces) found in Bacillus cereus and found them highly divergent from each other at DNA level (genetic distance values≥95.6%). It is possible that the vlm gene cluster and the ces gene cluster may share a relatively distant common ancestor but these two gene clusters have since evolved independently.     

Cloning and identification of saprolmycin biosynthetic gene cluster from Streptomyces sp. TK08046

Saprolmycins A–E are anti-Saprolegnia parasitica antibiotics. To identify the gene cluster for saprolmycin biosynthesis in Streptomyces sp. TK08046, polymerase chain reaction using aromatase and cyclase gene-specific primers was performed; the spr gene cluster, which codes for angucycline biosynthesis, was obtained from the strain. The cluster consists of 36 open reading frames, including minimal polyketide synthase, ketoreductase, aromatase, cyclase, oxygenase, and deoxy sugar biosynthetic genes, as defined by homology to the corresponding genes of the urdamycin, Sch-47554, and grincamycin biosynthetic gene clusters in Streptomyces fradiae, Streptomyces sp. SCC-2136, and Streptomyces lusitanus, respectively. To establish the function of the gene cluster, an expression cosmid vector containing all 36 open reading frames was introduced into Streptomyces lividans TK23. The transformant was confirmed to express the biosynthetic genes and produce saprolmycins by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis of the extract.     

Streptomyces poriferorum sp. nov., a novel marine sponge-derived Actinobacteria species expressing anti-MRSA activity

Marine sponges represent a rich source of uncharacterized microbial diversity, and many are host to microorganisms that produce biologically active specialized metabolites. Here, a polyphasic approach was used to characterize two Actinobacteria strains, P01-B04^T and P01-F02, that were isolated from the marine sponges Geodia barretti (Bowerbank, 1858) and Antho dichotoma (Esper, 1794), respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strains P01-B04^T and P01-F02 are closely related to Streptomyces beijiangensis DSM 41794^T, Streptomyces laculatispora NRRL B-24909^T, and Streptomyces brevispora NRRL B-24910^T. The two strains showed nearly identical 16S rRNA gene sequences (99.93%), and the average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) relatedness values were 99.96% and 99.6%, respectively, suggesting that these strains are affiliated with the same species. Chemotaxonomic and culture characteristics of both strains were also consistent with the genus Streptomyces, while phenotypic properties, genome-based comparisons, and phylogenomic analyses distinguished strains P01-B04^T and P01-F02 from their closest phylogenetic relatives. In silico analysis predicted that the 8.9 Mb genome of P01-B04^T contains at least 41 biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) encoding secondary metabolites, indicating that this strain could express diverse bioactive metabolites; in support of this prediction, this strain expressed antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria including a clinical isolate of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) EAMC30. Based on these results, the marine sponge-associated isolates represent a novel species of the genus Streptomyces, for which the name Streptomyces poriferorum sp. nov. is proposed, with P01-B04^T (=DSM 111306^T = CCM 9048^T) as the type strain.     

Mining of a streptothricin gene cluster from Streptomyces sp. TP-A0356 genome via heterologous expression

Streptothricins (STs) are used commercially to treat bacterial and fungal diseases in agriculture. Mining of the sequenced microbial genomes uncovered two cryptic ST clusters from Streptomyces sp. C and Streptomyces sp. TP-A0356. The ST cluster from S. sp. TP-A0356 was verified by successful heterologous expression in Streptomyces coelicolor M145. Two new ST analogs were produced together with streptothricin F and streptothricin D in the heterologous host. The ST cluster was further confirmed by inactivation of gene stnO, which was proposed encoding an aminomutase supplying -lysines for the poly-β-Lys chain formation. A putative biosynthetic pathway for STs is proposed based on bioinformatics analyses of the ST genes and experimental evidence.     

Sponge-associated sp. RM66 metabolome induction with N-acetylglucosamine: Antibacterial,antifungal and anti-trypanosomal activities

The marine sponge Amphimedon sp., collected from Hurghada (Egypt) was investigated for its sponge-derived actinomycetes diversity. Nineteen actinomycetes were cultivated and phylogenetically identified using 16S rDNA gene sequencing were carried out. The strains belong to genera Kocuria, Dietzia, Micrococcus, Microbacterium and Streptomyces. Many silent biosynthetic genes clusters were investigated using genome sequencing of actinomycete strains and has revealed in particular the genus Streptomyces that has indicated their exceptional capacity for the secondary metabolites production that not observed under classical cultivation conditions. In this study, the effect of N-acetylglucosamine on the metabolome of Streptomyces sp. RM66 was investigated using three actinomycetes media (ISP2, M1 and MA). In total, twelve extracts were produced using solid and liquid fermentation approaches. Liquid chromatography-high resolution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS/MS) data were analysed using metabolomics tools to compare natural product production across all crude extracts. Our study highlighted the elicitation effect of N-acetylglucosamine on the secondary metabolite profiles of Streptomyces sp. RM66. These results highlight the of N-acetylglucosamine application as an elicitor to induce the cryptic metabolites and for increasing the chemical diversity. All the twelve extracts were tested for their antibacterial activity was tested against Staphylococcus aureus NCTC 8325, antifungal activity against Candida albicans 5314 (ATCC 90028) and anti-trypanosomal activity against Trypanosoma brucei brucei. Extract St1 showed the most potent one with activities 2.3, 3.2 and 4.7 ug/ml as antibacterial, antifungal and anti-trypanosomal, respectively.     

链霉菌次级代谢产物高产菌株的构建策略

随着基因测序技术的发展,人类获得了大量有关链霉菌次级代谢产物合成基因簇的信息,通过合理的构建策略可以激活其中的隐性基因簇或提高基因簇的表达水平,从而获得新的链霉菌次级代谢产物,或显著提高已知次级代谢产物的发酵水平。从基因表达调控、转座子突变、合成生物学方法、组学方法等四个方面,综述了提高链霉菌次级代谢产物产量的构建策略及其研究进展。     

Rapid and Specific Method for Evaluating Streptomyces Competitive Dynamics in Complex Soil Communities

Quantifying target microbial populations in complex communities remains a barrier to studying species interactions in soil environments. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays were developed for quantifying pathogenic Streptomyces scabiei and antibiotic-producing Streptomyces lavendulae strains in complex soil communities. This assay will be useful for evaluating the competitive dynamics of streptomycetes in soil.Streptomyces spp. are ubiquitous soil bacteria that are noted for their capacity to produce a vast array of bioactive compounds, including antibiotics (10). Antibiotic-mediated species interactions are believed to be important to Streptomyces fitness and plant disease biocontrol in soil, and yet quantitative data on Streptomyces interactions in soil are limited. Moreover, because the impacts of one species on another can be mediated through interactions with other microbes in the community, detecting these impacts requires a sensitive and accurate method for quantifying the target populations within a complex community. Here, we describe a sensitive and specific assay that targets a short hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene to distinguish among Streptomyces organisms in complex soil communities. Streptomyces strains DL93 (Streptomyces lavendulae, an antibiotic producer that is effective in plant disease biocontrol [9]) and DL87 (Streptomyces scabiei, a plant pathogen) were studied in the present work. This approach has significant potential to shed light on the diversity and complexity of Streptomyces species interactions in soil.     

Coupling of the engineered DNA “mutator” to a biosensor as a new paradigm for activation of silent biosynthetic gene clusters in Streptomyces

DNA replication fidelity in Streptomyces bacteria, prolific producers of many medically important secondary metabolites, is understudied, while in Escherichia coli it is controlled by DnaQ, the ϵ subunit of DNA polymerase III (DNA PolIII). Manipulation of dnaQ paralogues in Streptomyces lividans TK24, did not lead to increased spontaneous mutagenesis in this bacterium suggesting that S. lividans DNA PolIII uses an alternative exonuclease activity for proofreading. In Mycobacterium tuberculosis, such activity is attributed to the DnaE protein representing α subunit of DNA PolIII. Eight DnaE mutants designed based on the literature data were overexpressed in S. lividans, and recombinant strains overexpressing two of these mutants displayed markedly increased frequency of spontaneous mutagenesis (up to 1000-fold higher compared to the control). One of these ‘mutators’ was combined in S. lividans with a biosensor specific for antibiotic coelimycin, which biosynthetic gene cluster is present but not expressed in this strain. Colonies giving a positive biosensor signal appeared at a frequency of ca 10^–5, and all of them were found to produce coelimycin congeners. This result confirmed that our approach can be applied for chemical- and radiation-free mutagenesis in Streptomyces leading to activation of orphan biosynthetic gene clusters and discovery of novel bioactive secondary metabolites.     

Distribution and Genetic Diversity of Bacteriocin Gene Clusters in Rumen Microbial Genomes

Some species of ruminal bacteria are known to produce antimicrobial peptides, but the screening procedures have mostly been based on in vitro assays using standardized methods. Recent sequencing efforts have made available the genome sequences of hundreds of ruminal microorganisms. In this work, we performed genome mining of the complete and partial genome sequences of 224 ruminal bacteria and 5 ruminal archaea to determine the distribution and diversity of bacteriocin gene clusters. A total of 46 bacteriocin gene clusters were identified in 33 strains of ruminal bacteria. Twenty gene clusters were related to lanthipeptide biosynthesis, while 11 gene clusters were associated with sactipeptide production, 7 gene clusters were associated with class II bacteriocin production, and 8 gene clusters were associated with class III bacteriocin production. The frequency of strains whose genomes encode putative antimicrobial peptide precursors was 14.4%. Clusters related to the production of sactipeptides were identified for the first time among ruminal bacteria. BLAST analysis indicated that the majority of the gene clusters (88%) encoding putative lanthipeptides contained all the essential genes required for lanthipeptide biosynthesis. Most strains of Streptococcus (66.6%) harbored complete lanthipeptide gene clusters, in addition to an open reading frame encoding a putative class II bacteriocin. Albusin B-like proteins were found in 100% of the Ruminococcus albus strains screened in this study. The in silico analysis provided evidence of novel biosynthetic gene clusters in bacterial species not previously related to bacteriocin production, suggesting that the rumen microbiota represents an underexplored source of antimicrobial peptides.     

Evolutionary Relationships among Actinophages and a Putative Adaptation for Growth in Streptomyces spp.

The genome sequences of eight Streptomyces phages are presented, four of which were isolated for this study. Phages R4, TG1, ϕHau3, and SV1 were isolated previously and have been exploited as tools for understanding and genetically manipulating Streptomyces spp. We also extracted five apparently intact prophages from recent Streptomyces spp. genome projects and, together with six phage genomes in the database, we analyzed all 19 Streptomyces phage genomes with a view to understanding their relationships to each other and to other actinophages, particularly the mycobacteriophages. Fifteen of the Streptomyces phages group into four clusters of related genomes. Although the R4-like phages do not share nucleotide sequence similarity with other phages, they clearly have common ancestry with cluster A mycobacteriophages, sharing many protein homologues, common gene syntenies, and similar repressor-stoperator regulatory systems. The R4-like phage ϕHau3 and the prophage StrepC.1 (from Streptomyces sp. strain C) appear to have hijacked a unique adaptation of the streptomycetes, i.e., use of the rare UUA codon, to control translation of the essential phage protein, the terminase. The Streptomyces venezuelae generalized transducing phage SV1 was used to predict the presence of other generalized transducing phages for different Streptomyces species.     

Improvement of gougerotin and nikkomycin production by engineering their biosynthetic gene clusters

Nikkomycins and gougerotin are peptidyl nucleoside antibiotics with broad biological activities. The nikkomycin biosynthetic gene cluster comprises one pathway-specific regulatory gene (sanG) and 21 structural genes, whereas the gene cluster for gougerotin biosynthesis includes one putative regulatory gene, one major facilitator superfamily transporter gene, and 13 structural genes. In the present study, we introduced sanG driven by six different promoters into Streptomyces ansochromogenes TH322. Nikkomycin production was increased significantly with the highest increase in engineered strain harboring hrdB promoter-driven sanG. In the meantime, we replaced the native promoter of key structural genes in the gougerotin (gou) gene cluster with the hrdB promoters. The heterologous producer Streptomyces coelicolor M1146 harboring the modified gene cluster produced gougerotin up to 10-fold more than strains carrying the unmodified cluster. Therefore, genetic manipulations of genes involved in antibiotics biosynthesis with the constitutive hrdB promoter present a robust, easy-to-use system generally useful for the improvement of antibiotics production in Streptomyces.