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.

Engineering precursor metabolite pools for increasing production of antitumor mithramycins in Streptomyces argillaceus

Mithramycin (MTM) is a polyketide antitumor compound produced by Streptomyces argillaceus constituted by a tricyclic aglycone with two aliphatic side chains, a trisaccharide and a disaccharide chain. The biosynthesis of the polyketide aglycone is initiated by the condensation of ten malonyl-CoA units to render a carbon chain that is modified to a tetracyclic intermediate and sequentially glycosylated by five deoxysugars originated from glucose-1-phosphate. Further oxidation and reduction render the final compound. We aimed to increase the precursor supply of malonyl-CoA and/or glucose-1-phosphate in S. argillaceus to enhance MTM production. We have shown that by overexpressing either the S. coelicolor phosphoglucomutase gene pgm or the acetyl-CoA carboxylase ovmGIH genes from the oviedomycin biosynthesis gene cluster in S. argillaceus, we were able to increase the intracellular pool of glucose-1-phosphate and malonyl-CoA, respectively. Moreover, we have cloned the S. argillaceus ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase gene glgCa and the acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase gene aftAa, and we showed that by inactivating them, an increase of the intracellular concentration of glucose-1-phosphate/glucose-6-phosphate and malonyl-CoA/acetyl-CoA was observed, respectively. Each individual modification resulted in an enhancement of MTM production but the highest production level was obtained by combining all strategies together. In addition, some of these strategies were successfully applied to increase production of four MTM derivatives with improved pharmacological properties: demycarosyl-mithramycin, demycarosyl-3D-β-D-digitoxosyl-mithramycin, mithramycin SK and mithramycin SDK.

Expression of the endogenous and heterologous clavulanic acid cluster in Streptomyces flavogriseus: why a silent cluster is sleeping

Clusters for clavulanic acid (CA) biosynthesis are present in the actinomycetes Streptomyces flavogriseus ATCC 33331 and Saccharomonospora viridis DSM 43017. These clusters, which are silent, contain blocks of conserved genes in the same order as those of the Streptomyces clavuligerus CA cluster but assembled in a different organization. S. flavogriseus was grown in nine different media, but clavulanic acid production was undetectable using bioassays or by high-performance liquid chromatography analyses. Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of S. flavogriseus CA biosynthesis genes showed that the regulatory genes ccaR and claR and some biosynthetic genes were expressed whereas expression of cyp, orf12, orf13, and oppA2 was undetectable. The ccaR gene of S. clavuligerus was unable to switch on CA production in S. flavogriseus::[Pfur-ccaR C], but insertion of a cosmid carrying the S. clavuligerus CA cluster (not including the ccaR gene) conferred clavulanic acid production on S. flavogriseus::[SCos-CA] particularly in TBO and YEME media; these results suggests that some of the S. flavogriseus CA genes are inactive. The known heptameric sequences recognized by CcaR in S. clavuligerus are poorly or not conserved in S. flavogriseus. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of the CA gene clusters of S. clavuligerus and S. flavogriseus showed that the average expression value of the expressed genes in the former strain was in the order of 1.68-fold higher than in the later. The absence of CA production by S. flavogriseus can be traced to the lack of expression of the essential genes cyp, orf12, orf13, orf14, and oppA2. Heterologous expression of S. clavuligerus CA gene cluster in S. flavogriseus::[SCos-CA] was 11- to 14-fold lower than in the parental strain, suggesting that the genetic background of the host strain is important for optimal production of CA in Streptomyces.

Engineering the biosynthesis of the polyketide-nonribosomal peptide collismycin A for generation of analogs with neuroprotective activity

Collismycin A is a member of the 2,2'-bipyridyl family of natural products that shows cytotoxic activity. Structurally, it belongs to the hybrid polyketides-nonribosomal peptides. After the isolation and characterization of the collismycin A gene cluster, we have used the combination of two different approaches (insertional inactivation and biocatalysis) to increase structural diversity in this natural product class. Twelve collismycin analogs were generated with modifications in the second pyridine ring of collismycin A, thus potentially maintaining biologic activity. None of these analogs showed better cytotoxic activity than the parental collismycin. However, some analogs showed neuroprotective activity and one of them (collismycin H) showed better values for neuroprotection against oxidative stress in a zebrafish model than those of collismycin A. Interestingly, this analog also showed very poor cytotoxic activity, a feature very desirable for a neuroprotectant compound.

High level of antibiotic production in a double polyphosphate kinase and phosphate-binding protein mutant of Streptomyces lividans

Phosphate metabolism regulates most of the life processes of microorganisms. In the present work we obtained and studied a Streptomyces lividans ppk/pstS double mutant, which lacks polyphosphate kinase (PPK) and the high-affinity phosphate-binding protein (PstS), impairing at the same time the intracellular storage of polyphosphate and the intake of new inorganic phosphate from a phosphate-limited medium, respectively. In some of the aspects analyzed, the ppk/pstS double mutant was more similar to the wt strain than was the single pstS mutant. The double mutant was thus able to grow in phosphate-limited media, whereas the pstS mutant required the addition of 1 mM phosphate under the assay conditions used. The double mutant was able to incorporate more than one fourth of the inorganic phosphate incorporated by the wt strain, whereas phosphate incorporation was almost completely impaired in the pstS mutant. Noteworthy, under phosphate limitation conditions, the double ppk/pstS mutant showed a higher production of the endogenous antibiotic actinorhodin and the heterologous antitumor 8-demethyl-tetracenomycin (up to 10-fold with respect to the wt strain), opening new possibilities for the use of this strain in the heterologous expression of antibiotic pathways.

Lipase-catalyzed preparation of chromomycin A₃ analogues and biological evaluation for anticancer activity

Several acyl derivatives of the aureolic acid chromomycin A(3) were obtained via lipase-catalyzed acylation. Lipase B from Candida antarctica (CAL-B) was found to be the only active biocatalyst, directing the acylation regioselectively towards the terminal secondary hydroxyl group of the aglycone side chain. All new chromomycin A(3) derivatives showed antitumor activity at the micromolar or lower level concentration. Particularly, chromomycin A(3) 4'-vinyladipate showed 3-5 times higher activity against the four tumor cell lines assayed as compared to chromomycin A(3).

A novel mithramycin analogue with high antitumor activity and less toxicity generated by combinatorial biosynthesis

Mithramycin is an antitumor compound produced by Streptomyces argillaceus that has been used for the treatment of several types of tumors and hypercalcaemia processes. However, its use in humans has been limited because of its side effects. Using combinatorial biosynthesis approaches, we have generated seven new mithramycin derivatives, which differ from the parental compound in the sugar profile or in both the sugar profile and the 3-side chain. From these studies three novel derivatives were identified, demycarosyl-3D-β-d-digitoxosylmithramycin SK, demycarosylmithramycin SDK, and demycarosyl-3D-β-d-digitoxosylmithramycin SDK, which show high antitumor activity. The first one, which combines two structural features previously found to improve pharmacological behavior, was generated following two different strategies, and it showed less toxicity than mithramycin. Preliminary in vivo evaluation of its antitumor activity through hollow fiber assays, and in subcutaneous colon and melanoma cancers xenografts models, suggests that demycarosyl-3D-β-d-digitoxosylmithramycin SK could be a promising antitumor agent worthy of further investigation.

Mutational analysis of the thienamycin biosynthetic gene cluster from Streptomyces cattleya

The generation of non-thienamycin-producing mutants with mutations in the thnL, thnN, thnO, and thnI genes within the thn gene cluster from Streptomyces cattleya and their involvement in thienamycin biosynthesis and regulation were previously reported. Four additional mutations were independently generated in the thnP, thnG, thnR, and thnT genes by insertional inactivation. Only the first two genes were found to play a role in thienamycin biosynthesis, since these mutations negatively or positively affect antibiotic production. A mutation of thnP results in the absence of thienamycin production, whereas a 2- to 3-fold increase in thienamycin production was observed for the thnG mutant. On the other hand, mutations in thnR and thnT showed that although these genes were previously reported to participate in this pathway, they seem to be nonessential for thienamycin biosynthesis, as thienamycin production was not affected in these mutants. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of all available mutants revealed some putative intermediates in the thienamycin biosynthetic pathway. A compound with a mass corresponding to carbapenam-3-carboxylic acid was detected in some of the mutants, suggesting that the assembly of the bicyclic nucleus of thienamycin might proceed in a way analogous to that of the simplest natural carbapenem, 1-carbapen-2-em-3-carboxylic acid biosynthesis. The accumulation of a compound with a mass corresponding to 2,3-dihydrothienamycin in the thnG mutant suggests that it might be the last intermediate in the biosynthetic pathway. These data, together with the establishment of cross-feeding relationships by the cosynthesis analysis of the non-thienamycin-producing mutants, lead to a proposal for some enzymatic steps during thienamycin assembly.

Characterization of the terminal activation step catalyzed by oxygenase CmmOIV of the chromomycin biosynthetic pathway from Streptomyces griseus

Inactivation and initial interrogation of key oxygenase CmmOIV of the biosynthetic pathway of chromomycin A(3) in Streptomyces griseus ssp. griseus revealed that a completely methylated and acetylated prechromomycin is the preferred substrate of this enzyme. This suggests that the three sugar decoration reactions, two O-acetylations and an O-methylation, which were previously believed to occur as the final steps of chromomycin A(3) biosynthesis, indeed take place prior to the CmmOIV reaction. Upon inactivation of CmmOIV, four new compounds accumulated; the fully decorated prechromomycin and its incompletely acetylated precursor along with a diketoprechromomycin-type compound were fully characterized and assayed with CmmOIV.

The chromomycin CmmA acetyltransferase: a membrane-bound enzyme as a tool for increasing structural diversity of the antitumour mithramycin

Mithramycin and chromomycin A₃ are two structurally related antitumour compounds, which differ in the glycosylation profiles and functional group substitutions of the sugars. Chromomycin contains two acetyl groups, which are incorporated during the biosynthesis by the acetyltransferase CmmA in Streptomyces griseus ssp. griseus. A bioconversion strategy using an engineered S. griseus strain generated seven novel acetylated mithramycins. The newly formed compounds were purified and characterized by MS and NMR. These new compounds differ from their parental compounds in the presence of one, two or three acetyl groups, attached at 3E, 4E and/or 4D positions. All new mithramycin analogues showed antitumour activity at micromolar of lower concentrations. Some of the compounds showed improved activities against glioblastoma or pancreas tumour cells. The CmmA acetyltransferase was located in the cell membrane and was shown to accept several acyl‐CoA substrates. All these results highlight the potential of CmmA as a tool to create structural diversity in these antitumour compounds.

Myxococcus xanthus induces actinorhodin overproduction and aerial mycelium formation by Streptomyces coelicolor

Interaction of the predatory myxobacterium Myxococcus xanthus with the non‐motile, antibiotic producer Streptomyces coelicolor was examined using a variety of experimental approaches. Myxococcus xanthus cells prey on S. coelicolor, forming streams of ordered cells that lyse the S. coelicolor hyphae in the contact area between the two colonies. The interaction increases actinorhodin production by S. coelicolor up to 20‐fold and triggers aerial mycelium production. Other bacteria are also able to induce these processes in S. coelicolor though to a lesser extent. These studies offer new clues about the expression of genes that remain silent or are expressed at low level in axenic cultures and open the possibility of overproducing compounds of biotechnological interest by using potent inducers synthesized by other bacteria.

Generation of potent and selective kinase inhibitors by combinatorial biosynthesis of glycosylated indolocarbazoles

We report the generation of novel glycosylated indolocarbazoles by combinatorial biosynthesis, and the identification of two novel potent and selective compounds inhibitors of JAK2 and Ikkb kinases.

Elucidation of oxygenation steps during oviedomycin biosynthesis and generation of derivatives with increased antitumor activity

Eight different angucyclinones have been produced in Streptomyces albus by combining three oxygenase genes together with the polyketide synthase and cyclases genes from the oviedomycin biosynthetic gene cluster from Streptomyces antibioticus ATCC 11891. Four of these compounds were fully characterized for the first time. Three of these angucyclinones-prejadomycin-2-carboxylate (2), 4a,12b-dehydro-UWM6 (5), and prejadomycin (3)-show a significant increase in their in vitro antitumor activity relative to oviedomycin (1). A hypothesis for the sequence of tailoring events catalyzed by these three oxygenases during oviedomycin biosynthesis is proposed. In this hypothesis OvmOII acts as a bifunctional oxygenase/dehydratase.

Generation of new derivatives of the antitumor antibiotic mithramycin by altering the glycosylation pattern through combinatorial biosynthesis

Mithramycin is an antitumor drug produced by Streptomyces argillaceus. It consists of a tricyclic aglycone and five deoxyhexoses that form a disaccharide and a trisaccharide chain, which are important for target interaction and therefore for the antitumor activity. Using a combinatorial biosynthesis approach, we have generated nine mithramycin derivatives, seven of which are new compounds, with alterations in the glycosylation pattern. The wild-type S. argillaceus strain and the mutant S. argillaceus M7U1, which has altered D-oliose biosynthesis, were used as hosts to express various "sugar plasmids", each one directing the biosynthesis of a different deoxyhexose. The newly formed compounds were purified and characterized by MS and NMR. Compared to mithramycin, they contained different sugar substitutions in the second (D-olivose, D-mycarose, or D-boivinose instead of D-oliose) and third (D-digitoxose instead of D-mycarose) sugar units of the trisaccharide as well as in the first (D-amicetose instead of D-olivose) sugar unit of the disaccharide. All compounds showed antitumor activity against different tumor cell lines. Structure-activity relationships are discussed on the basis of the number and type of deoxyhexoses present in these mithramycin derivatives.

Identification of transcriptional activators for thienamycin and cephamycin C biosynthetic genes within the thienamycin gene cluster from Streptomyces cattleya

Two regulatory genes, thnI and thnU, were identified in the thienamycin (thn) gene cluster from Streptomyces cattleya. ThnI resembles LysR-type transcriptional activators and ThnU belongs to the SARP family of transcriptional activators. Their functional role was established after independent inactivation by gene replacement together with transcriptional analysis involving reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Deletion of thnI abolished thienamycin production showing its involvement in thienamycin biosynthesis. Gene expression analysis applied to the thn gene cluster demonstrated that ThnI is a transcriptional activator essential for thienamycin biosynthesis that regulates the expression of nine genes involved in thienamycin assembly and export (thnH, thnJ, thnK, thnL, thnM, thnN, thnO, thnP and thnQ). Unexpectedly, the thnU disrupted mutant was not affected in thienamycin production but turned out to be essential for cephamycin C biosynthesis. Transcript analysis applied to early and late structural genes for cephamycin C biosynthesis (pcbAB and cmcI), revealed that ThnU is the transcriptional activator of these cephamycin C genes although they are not physically linked to the thn cluster. In addition, it was shown that deletion of thnI has an upregulatory effect on pcbAB and cmcI transcription consistent with a significant increase in cephamycin C biosynthesis in this mutant.

Biosynthesis of elloramycin in Streptomyces olivaceus requires glycosylation by enzymes encoded outside the aglycon cluster

Elloramycin is an anthracycline-like antitumour drug produced by Streptomyces olivaceus Tü2353. Cosmid cos16F4 has been previously shown to direct the biosynthesis of the elloramycin aglycon 8-demethyltetracenomycin C (8-DMTC), but not elloramycin. Sequencing of the 24.2 kb insert in cos16F4 shows the presence of 17 genes involved in elloramycin biosynthesis (elm genes) together with another additional eight ORFs probably not involved in elloramycin biosynthesis. The 17 genes would code for the biosynthesis of the polyketide moiety, sugar transfer, methylation of the tetracyclic ring and the sugar moiety, and export. Four genes (rhaA, rhaB, rhaC and rhaD) encoding the enzymic activities required for the biosynthesis of the sugar l-rhamnose were also identified in the S. olivaceus chromosome. The involvement of this rhamnose gene cluster in elloramycin biosynthesis was demonstrated by insertional inactivation of the rhaB gene, generating a non-producer mutant that accumulates the 8-DMTC C aglycon. Coexpression of cos16F4 with pEM4RO (expressing the four rhamnose biosynthesis genes) in Streptomyces lividans led to the formation of elloramycin, demonstrating that both subclusters are required for elloramycin biosynthesis. These results demonstrate that, in contrast to most of the biosynthesis gene clusters from actinomycetes, genes involved in the biosynthesis of elloramycin are located in two chromosomal loci.

Mithramycin analogues generated by combinatorial biosynthesis show improved bioactivity

Plasmid pLNBIV was used to overexpress the biosynthetic pathway of nucleoside-diphosphate (NDP)-activated l-digitoxose in the mithramycin producer Streptomyces argillaceus. This led to a "flooding" of the biosynthetic pathway of the antitumor drug mithramycin (MTM) with NDP-activated deoxysugars, which do not normally occur in the pathway, and consequently to the production of the four new mithramycin derivatives 1- 4 with altered saccharide patterns. Their structures reflect that NDP sugars produced by pLNBIV, namely, l-digitoxose and its biosynthetic intermediates, influenced the glycosyl transfer to positions B, D, and E, while positions A and C remained unaffected. All four new structures have unique, previously not found sugar decoration patterns, which arise from either overcoming the substrate specificity or inhibition of certain glycosyltransferases (GTs) of the MTM pathway with the foreign NDP sugars expressed by pLNBIV. An apoptosis TUNEL (=terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling) assay revealed that compounds 1 (demycarosyl-3D-beta- d-digitoxosyl-MTM) and 3 (deoliosyl-3C-beta- d-mycarosyl-MTM) show improved activity (64.8 +/- 2% and 50.3 +/- 2.5% induction of apoptosis, respectively) against the estrogen receptor (ER)-positive human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 compared with the parent drug MTM (37.8 +/- 2.5% induction of apoptosis). In addition, compounds 1 and 4 (3A-deolivosyl-MTM) show significant effects on the ER-negative human breast cancer cell line MDA-231 (63.6 +/- 2% and 12.6 +/- 2.5% induction of apoptosis, respectively), which is not inhibited by the parent drug MTM itself (2.6 +/- 1.5% induction of apoptosis), but for which chemotherapeutic agents are urgently needed.

Involvement of a chromomycin ABC transporter system in secretion of a deacetylated precursor during chromomycin biosynthesis

Chromomycin A(3) is an antitumour antibiotic that acts by inhibiting transcription and replication of DNA. The producer micro-organism Streptomyces griseus subsp. griseus is highly resistant to chromomycin A(3) and to the structurally related compound mithramycin upon induction with chromomycin A(3). The biosynthetic gene cluster of chromomycin contains three genes involved in self-resistance to chromomycin in S. griseus: cmrA and cmrB encode a type I ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter, and cmrX encodes a UvrA-like protein of ABC excision nuclease systems. These genes are linked in the chromosome, together with a gene encoding a transcriptional repressor (cmmRII). Involvement of these genes in chromomycin resistance was determined through gene inactivation, and heterologous expression in Streptomyces albus. Inactivation of cmrX produced a chromomycin-sensitive low-producer strain, while inactivation of cmmRII generated a high-chromomycin-producer strain, which was resistant to chromomycin, and also to mithramycin. Expression of either cmrA and cmrB, or cmrX, in S. albus generated strains with low chromomycin resistance; it was therefore necessary to co-express the three genes to achieve high levels of resistance. However, the CmrAB ABC transporter conferred a high level of resistance to the biosynthesis intermediate 4A,4E-O-dideacetyl-chromomycin A(3). A model is proposed for the biosynthesis of, and self-resistance to, chromomycin A(3) in S. griseus subsp. griseus.

Combinatorial biosynthesis of antitumor deoxysugar pathways in Streptomyces griseus: Reconstitution of "unnatural natural gene clusters" for the biosynthesis of four 2,6-D-dideoxyhexoses

Combinatorial biosynthesis was applied to Streptomyces deoxysugar biosynthesis genes in order to reconstitute "unnatural natural gene clusters" for the biosynthesis of four D-deoxysugars (D-olivose, D-oliose, D-digitoxose, and D-boivinose). Expression of these gene clusters in Streptomyces albus 16F4 was used to prove the functionality of the designed clusters through the generation of glycosylated tetracenomycins. Three glycosylated tetracenomycins were generated and characterized, two of which (D-digitoxosyl-tetracenomycin C and D-boivinosyl-tetracenocmycin C) were novel compounds. The constructed gene clusters may be used to increase the capabilities of microorganisms to synthesize new deoxysugars and therefore to produce new glycosylated bioactive compounds.

Reevaluation of the violacein biosynthetic pathway and its relationship to indolocarbazole biosynthesis

The biosynthetic pathways for violacein and for indolocarbazoles (rebeccamycin, staurosporine) include a decarboxylative fusion of two tryptophan units. However, in the case of violacein, one of the tryptophans experiences an unusual 1-->2 shift of the indole ring. The violacein biosynthetic gene cluster was previously reported to consist of four genes, vioABCD. Here we studied the violacein pathway through expression of vio genes in Escherichia coli and Streptomyces albus. A pair of genes (vioAB), responsible for the earliest steps in violacein biosynthesis, was functionally equivalent to the homologous pair in the indolocarbazole pathway (rebOD), directing the formation of chromopyrrolic acid. However, chromopyrrolic acid appeared to be a shunt product, not a violacein intermediate. In addition to vioABCD, a fifth gene (vioE) was essential for violacein biosynthesis, specifically for production of the characteristic 1-->2 shift of the indole ring. We also report new findings on the roles played by the VioC and VioD oxygenases, and on the origin of violacein derivatives of the chromoviridans type.

Isolation, characterization, and heterologous expression of the biosynthesis gene cluster for the antitumor anthracycline steffimycin

The biosynthetic gene cluster for the aromatic polyketide steffimycin of the anthracycline family has been cloned and characterized from "Streptomyces steffisburgensis" NRRL 3193. Sequence analysis of a 42.8-kbp DNA region revealed the presence of 36 open reading frames (ORFs) (one of them incomplete), 24 of which, spanning 26.5 kb, are probably involved in steffimycin biosynthesis. They code for all the activities required for polyketide biosynthesis, tailoring, regulation, and resistance but show no evidence of genes involved in L-rhamnose biosynthesis. The involvement of the cluster in steffimycin biosynthesis was confirmed by expression of a region of about 15 kb containing 15 ORFS, 11 of them forming part of the cluster, in the heterologous host Streptomyces albus, allowing the isolation of a biosynthetic intermediate. In addition, the expression in S. albus of the entire cluster, contained in a region of 34.8 kb, combined with the expression of plasmid pRHAM, directing the biosynthesis of L-rhamnose, led to the production of steffimycin. Inactivation of the stfX gene, coding for a putative cyclase, revealed that this enzymatic activity participates in the cyclization of the fourth ring, making the final steps in the biosynthesis of the steffimycin aglycon similar to those in the biosynthesis of jadomycin or rabelomycin. Inactivation of the stfG gene, coding for a putative glycosyltransferase involved in the attachment of L-rhamnose, allowed the production of a new compound corresponding to the steffimycin aglycon compound also observed in S. albus upon expression of the entire cluster.

Deciphering the biosynthesis pathway of the antitumor thiocoraline from a marine actinomycete and its expression in two streptomyces species

Thiocoraline is a thiodepsipeptide antitumor compound produced by two actinomycetes Micromonospora sp. ACM2-092 and Micromonospora sp. ML1, isolated from two marine invertebrates (a soft coral and a mollusc) found of the Indian Ocean coast of Mozambique. By using oligoprimers derived from nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) consensus sequences, six PCR fragments containing putative NRPS adenylation domains were amplified from the chromosome of Micromonospora sp. ML1. Insertional inactivation of each adenylation domain showed that two of them generated nonproducing mutants, thereby indicating that these domains were involved in thiocoraline biosynthesis. Sequencing of a 64.6 kbp DNA region revealed the presence of 36 complete open reading frames (ORFs) and two incomplete ones. Heterologous expression of a region of about 53 kbp, containing 26 of the ORFs, in Streptomyces albus and S. lividans led to the production of thiocoraline in these streptomycetes. Surprisingly, the identified gene cluster contains more NRPS modules than expected on the basis of the number of amino acids of thiocoraline. TioR and TioS would most probably constitute the NRPS involved in the biosynthesis of the thiocoraline backbone, according to the colinearity of the respective modules. It is proposed that two other NRPSs, TioY and TioZ, could be responsible for the biosynthesis of a small peptide molecule which could be involved in regulation of the biosynthesis of thicoraline in Micromonospora sp. ML1. In addition, a pathway is proposed for the biosynthesis of the unusual starter unit, 3-hydroxy-quinaldic acid.