Influence of fungal elicitors on biosynthesis of natamycin by Streptomyces natalensis HW-2

Improving the production of natamycin in Streptomyces natalensis HW-2 by L-valine feeding

L-valine (L-Val) was previously confirmed to promote natamycin biosynthesis in S. natalensis HW-2. In this study, natamycin yield was 1.9-fold increase with 0.5 g/L L-Val feeding. The level of free amino acids in the broth was significantly affected. Transcriptome analysis showed that 646 and 189 genes were significantly differential expression at 48 h and 60 h, respectively. 7 differential expression genes in branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) degradation were up-regulated. To further investigate the role of BCAAs degradation on natamycin biosynthesis, the gene ilvE, which encoded branched-chain amino acid aminotransferase (BCAT), was homologously overexpressed. The optimal mutant, S. natalensis LY08, was obtained, and its natamycin production was increased by 179%. With the optimized L-Val supplementation concentration, natamycin yield was increased to 2.02 g/L by strain LY08. This finding indicated the roles of BCAAs degradation on natamycin biosynthesis, and provided an efficient strategy to improve natamycin production in S. natalensis.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10068-024-01570-8.

Co-expression of a pair of interdependent regulators coding genes ovmZ and ovmW awakens the production of angucyclinones antibiotics in Streptomyces neyagawaensis

BACKGROUND

Microbial genome sequencing and analysis revealed the presence of abundant silent secondary metabolites biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in streptomycetes. Activating these BGCs has great significance for discovering new compounds and novel biosynthetic pathways.

RESULTS

In this study, we found that ovmZ and ovmW homologs, a pair of interdependent transcriptional regulators coding genes, are widespread in actinobacteria and closely associated with the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. Through co-overexpression of native ovmZ and ovmW in Streptomyces neyagawaensis NRRL B-3092, a silent type II polyketide synthase (PKS) gene cluster was activated to produce gephyromycin A, tetrangomycin and fridamycin E with the yields of 22.3 ± 8.0 mg/L, 4.8 ± 0.5 mg/L and 20.3 ± 4.1 mg/L respectively in the recombinant strain of S.ne/pZnWn. However, expression of either ovmZ or ovmW failed to activate this gene cluster. Interestingly, overexpression of the heterologous ovmZ and ovmW pair from oviedomycin BGC of S. ansochromogenes 7100 also led to awakening of this silent angucyclinone BGC in S. neyagawaensis.

CONCLUSION

A silent angucyclinone BGC was activated by overexpressing both ovmZ and ovmW in S. neyagawaensis. Due to the wide distribution of ovmZ and ovmW in the BGCs of actinobacteria, co-overexpression of ovmZ and ovmW could be a strategy for activating silent BGCs, thus stimulating the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites.

UV-ARTP-DES compound mutagenesis breeding improves natamycin production of Streptomyces natalensis HW-2 and reveals transcriptional changes by RNA-seq

Natamycin is widely used in food, medical and health, agriculture, and animal husbandry. In this study, Streptomyces natalensis HW-2 was used as the research object, and a mutant DES-26 with stable genetic characters was selected by UV-ARTP-DES compound mutation. The natamycin yield was 1.64 g/L, 86.36% higher than original strain. Differential expression genes were analyzed by transcriptomics, and results showed that 295 and 860 genes were significantly differentially expressed at fermentation for 48 h and 72 h. GO and KEGG analysis showed that compound mutagenesis had a significant impact on glycolysis, pentose phosphate, TCA cycle, fatty acid metabolism pathways, and several key enzyme genes in the pathways were up-regulated, and genes related to natamycin biosynthesis (pimB-pimI) and transcriptional regulator (pimR) were also up-regulated. qRT-PCR results confirmed that expression levels of these genes were consistent with transcriptional changes of RNA-Seq.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10068-022-01191-z.

Transcriptome and Metabolome Analysis Revealing the Improved ε-Poly-l-Lysine Production Induced by a Microbial Call from Botrytis cinerea

ε-Poly-l-lysine (ε-PL) is a wide-spectrum antimicrobial agent, while its biosynthesis-inducing signals are rarely reported. This study found that Botrytis cinerea extracts could act as a microbial call to induce a physiological modification of Streptomyces albulus for ε-PL efficient biosynthesis and thereby resulted in ε-PL production (34.2 g/liter) 1.34-fold higher than control. The elicitors could be primary isolated by ethanol and butanol extraction, which resulted in more vibrant, aggregate and stronger mycelia. The elicitor-derived physiological changes focused on three aspects: ε-PL synthase, energy metabolism, and lysine biosynthesis. After elicitor addition, upregulated sigma factor hrdD and improved transcription and expression of pls directly contributed to the high ε-PL productivity; upregulated genes in tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and energy metabolism promoted activities of citrate synthase and the electron transport system; in addition, pool enlargements of ATP, ADP, and NADH guaranteed the ATP provision for ε-PL assembly. Lysine biosynthesis was also increased based on enhancements of gene transcription, key enzyme activities, and intracellular metabolite pools related to carbon source utilization, the Embden-Meyerhof pathway (EMP), the diaminopimelic acid pathway (DAP), and the replenishment pathway. Interestingly, the elicitors stimulated the gene transcription for the quorum-sensing system and resulted in upregulation of genes for other antibiotic production. These results indicated that the Botrytis cinerea could produce inducing signals to change the Streptomyces mycelial physiology and accelerate the ε-PL biosynthesis. IMPORTANCE This work identified the role of microbial elicitors on ε-PL production and disclosed the underlying mechanism through analysis of gene transcription, key enzyme activities, and intracellular metabolite pools, including transcriptome and metabolome analysis. It was the first report for the inducing effects of the "microbial call" to Streptomyces albulus and ε-PL biosynthesis, and these elicitors could be potentially obtained from decayed fruits infected by Botrytis cinerea; hence, this may be a way of turning a biohazard into bioproduct wealth. This study provided a reference for application of microbial signals in secondary metabolite production, which is of theoretical and practical significance in industrial antibiotic production.

Streptomyces sp. BV410: Interspecies cross-talk for staurosporine production

AIMS

Sequencing and genome analysis of two co-isolated streptomycetes, named BV410-1 and BV410-10, and the effect of their co-cultivation on the staurosporine production.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Identification of two strains through genome sequencing and their separation using different growth media was conducted. Sequence analysis revealed that the genome of BV410-1 was 9.5 Mb, whilst that of BV410-10 was 7.1 Mb. AntiSMASH analysis identified 28 biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) from BV410-1, including that responsible for staurosporine biosynthesis, whilst 20 BGCs were identified from BV410-10. The addition of cell-free supernatant from BV410-10 monoculture to BV410-1 fermentations improved the staurosporine yield from 8.35 mg L^-1 up to 15.85 mg L^-1 , whilst BV410-10 monoculture ethyl acetate extract did not have the same effect. Also, there was no improvement in staurosporine production when artificial mixed cultures were created using three different BV410-1 and BV410-10 spore ratios.

CONCLUSIONS

The growth of BV410-10 was inhibited when the two strains were grown together on agar plates. Culture supernatants of BV410-10 showed potential to stimulate staurosporine production in BV410-1, but overall co-cultivation attempts did not restore the previously reported yield of staurosporine produced by the original mixed isolate.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF STUDY

This work confirmed complex relations between streptomycetes in soil that are difficult to recreate under the laboratory conditions. Also, mining of streptomycetes genomes that mainly produce known bioactive compounds could still be the fruitful approach in search for novel bioactive molecules.

Grapevine Xylem Sap Is a Potent Elicitor of Antibiotic Production in Streptomyces spp

Streptomyces bacteria produce a wide number of antibiotics and antitumor compounds that have attracted the attention of pharmaceutical and biotech companies. In this study, we provide evidence showing that the xylem sap from grapevines has a positive effect on the production of different antibiotics by several Streptomyces species, including S. ambofaciens ATCC 23877 and S. argillaceus ATCC 12596 among others. The production of several already known compounds was induced: actinomycin D, chromomycin A3, fungichromin B, mithramycin A, etc., and four compounds with molecular formulas not included in the Dictionary of Natural Products (DNP v28.2) were also produced. The molecules present in the xylem sap that acts as elicitors were smaller than 3 kDa and soluble in water and insoluble in ether, ethyl acetate, or methanol. A combination of potassium citrate and di-D-fructose dianhydrides (related to levanbiose or inulobiose) seemed to be the main effectors identified from the active fraction. However, the level of induction obtained in the presence of these compounds mix was weaker and delayed with respect to the one got when using the whole xylem sap or the 3 kDa sap fraction, suggesting that another, not identified, elicitor must be also implied in this induction.

Optimization of fermentation medium and conditions for enhancing valinomycin production by Streptomyces sp. ZJUT-IFE-354

Valinomycin is a cyclodepsipeptide antibiotic with a broad spectrum of biological activities, such as antiviral, antitumor, and antifungal activities. However, the low yield of valinomycin often limits its applications in medicine, agriculture, and industry. In our previous report, Streptomyces sp. ZJUT-IFE-354 was identified as a high-yielding strain of valinomycin. In this study, Plackett-Burman design (PBD) and response surface methodology (RSM) were used to optimize components of medium. The optimal medium contained 31 g/L glucose, 22 g/L soybean meal, and 1.6 g/L K₂HPO₄·3H₂O, which could generate 262.47 ± 4.28 mg/L of valinomycin. Then, the culture conditions were optimized by a one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) approach. The optimal conditions for the strain included a seed age of 24 h, an inoculum size of 8% (v/v), an incubation temperature of 28 °C, an initial pH of 7.2, an elicitor of 0.1% Bacillus cereus feeding at 24 h cultivation, and the feeding of 0.6% _L-valine at 36 h cultivation. The final valinomycin production increased to 457.23 ± 9.52 mg/L, which was the highest yield ever reported. It highlights that RSM and OFAT may be efficient methods to enhance valinomycin production by Streptomyces sp. ZJUT-IFE-354.

Use of elicitors to enhance or activate the antibiotic production in streptomyces

Streptomyces is the largest and most significant genus of Actinobacteria, comprising 961 species. These Gram-positive bacteria produce many versatile and important bioactive compounds; of these, antibiotics, specifically the enhancement or activation of their production, have received extensive research attention. Recently, various biotic and abiotic elicitors have been reported to modify the antibiotic metabolism of Streptomyces, which promotes the production of new antibiotics and bioactive metabolites for improvement in the yields of endogenous products. However, some elicitors that obviously contribute to secondary metabolite production have not yet received sufficient attention. In this study, we have reviewed the functions and mechanisms of chemicals, novel microbial metabolic elicitors, microbial interactions, enzymes, enzyme inhibitors, environmental factors, and novel combination methods regarding antibiotic production in Streptomyces. This review has aimed to identify potentially valuable elicitors for stimulating the production of latent antibiotics or enhancing the synthesis of subsistent antibiotics in Streptomyces. Future applications and challenges in the discovery of new antibiotics and enhancement of existing antibiotic production using elicitors are discussed.

Rational engineering strategies for achieving high-yield, high-quality and high-stability of natural product production in actinomycetes

Actinomycetes are recognized as excellent producers of microbial natural products, which have a wide range of applications, especially in medicine, agriculture and stockbreeding. The three main indexes of industrialization (titer, purity and stability) must be taken into overall consideration in the manufacturing process of natural products. Over the past decades, synthetic biology techniques have expedited the development of industrially competitive strains with excellent performances. Here, we summarize various rational engineering strategies for upgrading the performance of industrial actinomycetes, which include enhancing the yield of natural products, eliminating the by-products and improving the genetic stability of engineered strains. Furthermore, the current challenges and future perspectives for optimizing the industrial strains more systematically through combinatorial engineering strategies are also discussed.

Stimulatory Effects of Oleci Acid and Fungal Elicitor on Betulinic Acid Production by Submerged Cultivation of Medicinal Mushroom Inonotus obliquus

To evaluate the novel strategy of oleic acid and fungal elicitor (made from Aspergillus niger) to elicit betulinic acid biosynthesis in medicinal mushroom Inonotus obliquus, we conduct the stimulatory effects investigation for synthesizing betulinic acid from betulin. HPLC results indicated oleic acid and fungal elicitor were effective stimulators. The supplementation of 1.0 g/L oleic acid led to the highest increase of betulinic acid either in dry mycelia or fermentation broth by 2-fold of the control. Fungal elicitor at 45 mg/L markedly increases mycelia growth by 146.0% and enhance intracellular betulinic acid accumulation by 429.5% as compared to the controls. Quantification of transcription levels determined that oleic acid, fungal elicitor and their combinations could induce the expressions of key genes involved in betulinic acid biosynthesis, such as HMG-CoA reductase and squalene synthase. These findings indicated that oleic acid and fungal elicitor could enhance betulinic acid metabolism by up-regulating key genes expression.

Draft genome sequences of two Streptomyces albidoflavus strains DEF1AK and DEF147AK with plant growth-promoting and biocontrol potential

Purpose

Bacteria belonging to the Streptomyces genus can be exploited in environmentally friendly approaches to food safety. Genome information can help to characterize bioactive strains opening the possibility to decipher their mechanisms of action.

Methods

The biocontrol and plant growth-promoting activity of two Streptomyces spp. strains, DEF1AK and DEF147AK, were assessed in vitro and in planta. The genome sequences were determined using the Illumina NextSeq sequencing system and were assembled using EvoCAT (Evogene Clustering and Assembly Toolbox).

Result

Streptomyces spp. DEF1AK and DEF147AK were able to improve seed germination and early plant development of maize, wheat, and tomato and inhibited the mycelium growth of diverse fungal plant pathogens in vitro. The genome sequence analysis identified both strains as S. albidoflavus (99% sequence identity). Both genomes were of 7.1-Mb length with an average GC content of 73.45%. AntiSMASH and MIBiG analyses revealed strain-specific sets of secondary metabolite gene clusters in the two strains as well as differences in the number and type of duplicated genes.

Conclusion

The combination of the biological activity and genomic data is the basis for in-depth studies aimed at the identification of secondary metabolites involved in plant growth-promoting and biocontrol activity of Streptomyces spp. The comparison of unique genomic features of the two strains will help to explain their diverse biocontrol and plant growth-promoting activities and warrant targeted functional genomics approaches to verify their mechanisms of action.

Effects of addition of elicitors on rimocidin biosynthesis in Streptomyces rimosus M527

The polyene macrolide rimocidin, produced by Streptomyces rimosus M527, is highly effective against a broad range of fungal plant pathogens, but at low yields. Elicitation is an effective method of stimulating the yield of bioactive secondary metabolites. In this study, the biomass and filtrate of a culture broth of Escherichia coli JM109, Bacillus subtilis WB600, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum were employed as elicitors to promote rimocidin production in S. rimosus M527. Adding culture broth and biomass of S. cerevisiae (A3) and F. oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum (B4) resulted in an increase of rimocidin production by 51.2% and 68.3% respectively compared with the production under normal conditions in 5-l fermentor. In addition, quantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed that the transcriptions of ten genes (rimA to rimK) located in the gene cluster involved in rimocidin biosynthesis in A3 or B4 elicitation experimental group were all higher than those of a control group. Using a β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter system, GUS enzyme activity assay, and Western blot analysis, we discovered that elicitation of A3 or B4 increased protein synthesis in S. rimosus M527. These results demonstrate that the addition of elicitors is a useful approach to improve rimocidin production.Key Points • An effective strategy for enhancing rimocidin production in S. rimosus M527 is demonstrated. • Overproduction of rimocidin is a result of higher expressed structural genes followed by an increase in protein synthesis.

Discovery of a New Natural Product and a Deactivation of a Quorum Sensing System by Culturing a "Producer" Bacterium With a Heat-Killed "Inducer" Culture

Herein we describe a modified bacterial culture methodology as a tool to discover new natural products via supplementing actinomycete fermentation media with autoclaved cultures of “inducer” microbes. Using seven actinomycetes and four inducer microbes, we detected 28 metabolites that were induced in UHPLC-HRESIMS-based analysis of bacterial fermentations. Metabolomic analysis indicated that each inducer elicited a unique response from the actinomycetes and that some chemical responses were specific to each inducer-producer combination. Among these 28 metabolites, hydrazidomycin D, a new hydrazide-containing natural product was isolated from the pair Streptomyces sp. RKBH-B178 and Mycobacterium smegmatis. This result validated the effectiveness of the strategy in discovering new natural products. From the same set of induced metabolites, an in-depth investigation of a fermentation of Streptomyces sp. RKBH-B178 and autoclaved Pseudomonas aeruginosa led to the discovery of a glucuronidated analog of the pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS). We demonstrated that RKBH-B178 is able to biotransform the P. aeruginosa quorum sensing molecules, 2-heptyl-4-quinolone (HHQ), and PQS to form PQS-GlcA. Further, PQS-GlcA was shown to have poor binding affinity to PqsR, the innate receptor of HHQ and PQS.

Global evolution of glycosylated polyene macrolide antibiotic biosynthesis

Antibiotics are the most marvelous evolutionary products of microbes to obtain competitive advantage and maintain ecological balance. However, the origination and development of antibiotics has yet to be explicitly investigated. Due to diverse structures and similar biosynthesis, glycosylated polyene macrolides (gPEMs) were chosen to explore antibiotic evolution. A total of 130 candidate and 38 transitional gPEM clusters were collected from actinomycetes genomes, providing abundant references for phenotypic gaps in gPEM evolution. The most conserved parts of gPEM biosynthesis were found and used for phylogeny construction. On this basis, we proposed ancestral gPEM clusters at different evolutionary stages and interpreted the possible evolutionary histories in detail. The results revealed that gPEMs evolved from small rings to large rings and continuously increased structural diversity through acquiring, discarding and exchanging genes from different evolutionary origins, as well as co-evolution of functionally related proteins. The combination of horizontal gene transfers, environmental effects and host preference resulted in the diversity and worldwide distribution of gPEMs. This study is not only a useful exploration on antibiotic evolution but also an inspiration for diversity and biogeographic investigations on antibiotics in the era of Big Data.

Streptomyces Differentiation in Liquid Cultures as a Trigger of Secondary Metabolism

Streptomyces is a diverse group of gram-positive microorganisms characterised by a complex developmental cycle. Streptomycetes produce a number of antibiotics and other bioactive compounds used in the clinic. Most screening campaigns looking for new bioactive molecules from actinomycetes have been performed empirically, e.g., without considering whether the bacteria are growing under the best developmental conditions for secondary metabolite production. These screening campaigns were extremely productive and discovered a number of new bioactive compounds during the so-called “golden age of antibiotics” (until the 1980s). However, at present, there is a worrying bottleneck in drug discovery, and new experimental approaches are needed to improve the screening of natural actinomycetes. Streptomycetes are still the most important natural source of antibiotics and other bioactive compounds. They harbour many cryptic secondary metabolite pathways not expressed under classical laboratory cultures. Here, we review the new strategies that are being explored to overcome current challenges in drug discovery. In particular, we focus on those aimed at improving the differentiation of the antibiotic-producing mycelium stage in the laboratory.

Revelation and cloning of valinomycin synthetase genes in Streptomyces lavendulae ACR-DA1 and their expression analysis under different fermentation and elicitation conditions

Streptomyces species are amongst the most exploited microorganisms due to their ability to produce a plethora of secondary metabolites with bioactive potential, including several well known drugs. They are endowed with immense unexplored potential and substantial efforts are required for their isolation as well as characterization for their bioactive potential. Unexplored niches and extreme environments are host to diverse microbial species. In this study, we report Streptomyces lavendulae ACR-DA1, isolated from extreme cold deserts of the North Western Himalayas, which produces a macrolactone antibiotic, valinomycin. Valinomycin is a K⁺ ionophoric non-ribosomal cyclodepsipeptide with a broad range of bioactivities including antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral and cytotoxic/anticancer activities. Production of valinomycin by the strain S. lavendulae ACR-DA1 was studied under different fermentation conditions like fermentation medium, temperature and addition of biosynthetic precursors. Synthetic medium at 10°C in the presence of precursors i.e. valine and pyruvate showed enhanced valinomycin production. In order to assess the impact of various elicitors, expression of the two genes viz. vlm1 and vlm2 that encode components of heterodimeric valinomycin synthetase, was analyzed using RT-PCR and correlated with quantity of valinomycin using LC-MS/MS. Annelid, bacterial and yeast elicitors increased valinomycin production whereas addition of fungal and plant elicitors down regulated the biosynthetic genes and reduced valinomycin production. This study is also the first report of valinomycin biosynthesis by Streptomyces lavendulae.

Biotechnological production and application of the antibiotic pimaricin: biosynthesis and its regulation

Pimaricin (natamycin) is a small polyene macrolide antibiotic used worldwide. This efficient antimycotic and antiprotozoal agent, produced by several soil bacterial species of the genus Streptomyces, has found application in human therapy, in the food and beverage industries and as pesticide. It displays a broad spectrum of activity, targeting ergosterol but bearing a particular mode of action different to other polyene macrolides. The biosynthesis of this only antifungal agent with a GRAS status has been thoroughly studied, which has permitted the manipulation of producers to engineer the biosynthetic gene clusters in order to generate several analogues. Regulation of its production has been largely unveiled, constituting a model for other polyenes and setting the leads for optimizing the production of these valuable compounds. This review describes and discusses the molecular genetics, uses, mode of action, analogue generation, regulation and strategies for increasing pimaricin production yields.

Elicitation of secondary metabolism in actinomycetes

Genomic sequence data have revealed the presence of a large fraction of putatively silent biosynthetic gene clusters in the genomes of actinomycetes that encode for secondary metabolites, which are not detected under standard fermentation conditions. This review focuses on the effects of biological (co-cultivation), chemical, as well as molecular elicitation on secondary metabolism in actinomycetes. Our review covers the literature until June 2014 and exemplifies the diversity of natural products that have been recovered by such approaches from the phylum Actinobacteria.