Valinomycin Biosynthetic Gene Cluster in Streptomyces: Conservation,Ecology and Evolution |
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Authors: | Andrea M Matter Sara B Hoot Patrick D Anderson Susana S Neves Yi-Qiang Cheng |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States of America.; 2. The Great Lakes WATER Institute, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States of America.; 3. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States of America.;Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India |
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Abstract: | 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. |
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