The small MbtH-like protein encoded by an internal gene of the balhimycin biosynthetic gene cluster is not required for glycopeptide production

The balhimycin biosynthetic gene cluster of the glycopeptide producer Amycolatopsis balhimycina includes a gene (orf1) with unknown function. orf1 shows high similarity to the mbtH gene from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In almost all nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) biosynthetic gene clusters, we could identify a small mbtH-like gene whose function in peptide biosynthesis is not known. The mbtH-like gene is always colocalized with the NRPS genes; however, it does not have a specific position in the gene cluster. In all glycopeptide biosynthetic gene clusters the orf1-like gene is always located downstream of the gene encoding the last module of the NRPS. We inactivated the orf1 gene in A. balhimycina by generating a deletion mutant. The balhimycin production is not affected in the orf1-deletion mutant and is indistinguishable from that of the wild type. For the first time, we show that the inactivation of an mbtH-like gene does not impair the biosynthesis of a nonribosomal peptide.