NAD(+)-specific glutamate dehydrogenase (EC.1.4.1.2) in Streptomyces coelicolor; in vivo characterization and the implication for nutrient-dependent secondary metabolism

Nutrient-depended metabolic switching during batch cultivation of Streptomyces coelicolor explored with absolute quantitative mass spectrometry-based metabolite profiling

The well-known secondary metabolite-producing bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor is a natural choice for the development of super-hosts optimized for the heterologous expression of antibiotic biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). In this study, we used S. coelicolor M145 and its derivative strain M1146 where all active BGCs have been deleted and generated high-resolution quantitative time series metabolite profiles under two cultivation conditions (phosphate and nitrogen limitation to cease growth and trigger secondary metabolism). Five targeted LC-MS/MS-based methods were used to quantify intracellular primary metabolites covering phosphorylated metabolites, amino acids, organic acids, (deoxy) nucleoside/sugar phosphates, Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), and Coenzyme A (CoA). The nitrogen limitation resulted in a sharp decline in respiration and an immediate drop in the cell mass concentration. Intracellularly, a reduction in the level of the metabolites next to α-ketoglutarate in the tricarboxylic acid cycle and a decrease in the NADH pool were among the most prominent adaptation to this nutrient limitation. Phosphate limitation evoked a different adaptation of the metabolite pools as most of the phosphorylated metabolite pools except 6-phosphogluconic acid (6PG) pool were downregulated. ¹³C-isotope-labeling experiments revealed the simultaneous activity of both glycolysis and gluconeogenesis during the co-utilization of glucose and glutamate. The S. coelicolor M1146 strain had similar time-series metabolite profile dynamics as the parent M145 strain, except for a visibly increased 6PG pool in the stationary phase. In general, the nutrient limitation had a larger effect on the metabolite pool levels than the absence of secondary metabolite production in M1146. This study provides new insight into the primary carbon metabolism and its link to the secondary metabolism which is needed for further optimization of both super-host genotype and cultivation conditions.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-022-03146-x.

Coelimycin Synthesis Activatory Proteins Are Key Regulators of Specialized Metabolism and Precursor Flux in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2)

Many microbial specialized metabolites are industrially relevant agents but also serve as signaling molecules in intra-species and even inter-kingdom interactions. In the antibiotic-producing Streptomyces, members of the SARP (Streptomyces antibiotic regulatory proteins) family of regulators are often encoded within biosynthetic gene clusters and serve as their direct activators. Coelimycin is the earliest, colored specialized metabolite synthesized in the life cycle of the model organism Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2). Deletion of its two SARP activators cpkO and cpkN abolished coelimycin synthesis and resulted in dramatic changes in the production of the later, stationary-phase antibiotics. The underlying mechanisms of these phenotypes were deregulation of precursor flux and quorum sensing, as shown by label-free, bottom-up shotgun proteomics. Detailed profiling of promoter activities demonstrated that CpkO is the upper-level cluster activator that induces CpkN, while CpkN activates type II thioesterase ScoT, necessary for coelimycin synthesis. What is more, we show that cpkN is regulated by quorum sensing gamma-butyrolactone receptor ScbR.

Orobol, an Enzyme-Convertible Product of Genistein, exerts Anti-Obesity Effects by Targeting Casein Kinase 1 Epsilon

Soy isoflavones, particularly genistein, have been shown to exhibit anti-obesity effects. When compared with the isoflavones genistin, daidzin, coumestrol, genistein, daidzein, 6-o-dihydroxyisoflavone, equol, 3′-o-dihydroxyisoflavone, and 8-o-dihydroxyisoflavone, a remarkably higher inhibitory effect on lipid accumulation was observed for orobol treatment during adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells. To identify the cellular target of orobol, its pharmacological effect on 395 human kinases was analyzed. Of the 395 kinases, orobol showed the lowest half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) for Casein Kinase 1 epsilon (CK1ε), and bound to this target in an ATP-competitive manner. A computer modeling study revealed that orobol may potentially dock with the ATP-binding site of CK1ε via several hydrogen bonds and van der Waals interactions. The phosphorylation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E-binding protein 1, a substrate of CK1ε, was inhibited by orobol in isobutylmethylxanthine, dexamethasone and insulin (MDI)-induced 3T3-L1 cells. It was also found that orobol attenuates high fat diet-induced weight gain and lipid accumulation without affecting food intake in C57BL/6J mice. These findings underline orobol’s potential for development as a novel agent for the prevention and treatment of obesity.

Genome-Wide Mutagenesis Links Multiple Metabolic Pathways with Actinorhodin Production in Streptomyces coelicolor

Streptomyces species are important antibiotic-producing organisms that tightly regulate their antibiotic production. Actinorhodin is a typical antibiotic produced by the model actinomycete Streptomyces coelicolor To discover the regulators of actinorhodin production, we constructed a library of 50,000 independent mutants with hyperactive Tn5 transposase-based transposition systems. Five hundred fifty-one genes were found to influence actinorhodin production in 988 individual mutants. Genetic complementation suggested that most of the insertions (76%) were responsible for the changes in antibiotic production. Genes involved in diverse cellular processes such as amino acid biosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, cell wall homeostasis, and DNA metabolism affected actinorhodin production. Genome-wide mutagenesis can identify novel genes and pathways that impact antibiotic levels, potentially aiding in engineering strains to optimize the production of antibiotics in Streptomyces IMPORTANCE Previous studies have shown that various genes can influence antibiotic production in Streptomyces and that intercommunication between regulators can complicate antibiotic production. Therefore, to gain a better understanding of antibiotic regulation, a genome-wide perspective on genes that influence antibiotic production was needed. We searched for genes that affected production of the antibiotic actinorhodin using a genome-wide gene disruption system. We identified 551 genes that altered actinorhodin levels, and more than half of these genes were newly identified effectors. Some of these genes may be candidates for engineering Streptomyces strains to improve antibiotic production levels.

PccD Regulates Branched-Chain Amino Acid Degradation and Exerts a Negative Effect on Erythromycin Production in Saccharopolyspora erythraea

Branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) degradation is a major source of propionyl coenzyme A (propionyl-CoA), a key precursor of erythromycin biosynthesis in Saccharopolyspora erythraea In this study, we found that the bkd operon, responsible for BCAA degradation, was regulated directly by PccD, a transcriptional regulator of propionyl-CoA carboxylase genes. The transcriptional level of the bkd operon was upregulated 5-fold in a pccD gene deletion strain (ΔpccD strain) and decreased 3-fold in a pccD overexpression strain (WT/pIB-pccD), demonstrating that PccD was a negative transcriptional regulator of the operon. The deletion of pccD significantly improved the ΔpccD strain's growth rate, whereas pccD overexpression repressed WT/pIB-pccD growth rate, in basic Evans medium with 30 mM valine as the sole carbon and nitrogen source. The deletion of gdhA1 and the BcdhE1 gene (genes in the bkd operon) resulted in lower growth rates of ΔgdhA1 and ΔBcdhE1 strains, respectively, on 30 mM valine, further suggesting that the bkd operon is involved in BCAA degradation. Both bkd overexpression (WT/pIB-bkd) and pccD inactivation (ΔpccD strain) improve erythromycin production (38% and 64%, respectively), whereas the erythromycin production of strain WT/pIB-pccD was decreased by 48%. Lastly, we explored the applications of engineering pccD and bkd in an industrial high-erythromycin-producing strain. pccD deletion in industrial strain S. erythraea E3 (E3pccD) improved erythromycin production by 20%, and the overexpression of bkd in E3ΔpccD (E3ΔpccD/pIB-bkd) increased erythromycin production by 39% compared with S. erythraea E3 in an industrial fermentation medium. Addition of 30 mM valine to industrial fermentation medium further improved the erythromycin production by 23%, a 72% increase from the initial strain S. erythraea E3.IMPORTANCE We describe a bkd operon involved in BCAA degradation in S. erythraea The genes of the operon are repressed by a TetR regulator, PccD. The results demonstrated that PccD controlled the supply of precursors for biosynthesis of erythromycin via regulating the BCAA degradation and propionyl-CoA assimilation and exerted a negative effect on erythromycin production. The findings reveal a regulatory mechanism in feeder pathways and provide new strategies for designing metabolic engineering to increase erythromycin yield.

Alpha-ketoglutarate protects Streptomyces coelicolor from visible light-induced phototoxicity

It has been known that some Streptomyces species, including the model strain Streptomyces coelicolor, are vulnerable to visible light. Much evidence demonstrated that the phototoxicity induced by visible light is a consequence of the formation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are potentially harmful to cells. In this study, we found that α-ketoglutarate (α-KG) has a protective role against the phototoxicity in S. coelicolor. It could be because that α-KG can detoxify the ROS with the concomitant formation of succinate, which mediates the cells getting into anaerobiosis to produce more NADH and maintain intracellular redox homeostasis, a situation that was demonstrated by overexpressing gdhA in S. coelicolor. This finding, therefore, connects the central metabolites with the bacterial resistance against phototoxicity effect induced by visible light.

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Streptomyces coelicolor is sensitive to visible light induced phototoxicity.

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α-ketoglutarate (α-KG) has a protective role against phototoxicity in S. coelicolor.

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α-KG maintains intracellular NAD/NADH redox homeostasis to resist phototoxicity.

Large-Scale Transposition Mutagenesis of Streptomyces coelicolor Identifies Hundreds of Genes Influencing Antibiotic Biosynthesis

Gram-positive Streptomyces bacteria produce thousands of bioactive secondary metabolites, including antibiotics. To systematically investigate genes affecting secondary metabolism, we developed a hyperactive transposase-based Tn5 transposition system and employed it to mutagenize the model species Streptomyces coelicolor, leading to the identification of 51,443 transposition insertions. These insertions were distributed randomly along the chromosome except for some preferred regions associated with relatively low GC content in the chromosomal core. The base composition of the insertion site and its flanking sequences compiled from the 51,443 insertions implied a 19-bp expanded target site surrounding the insertion site, with a slight nucleic acid base preference in some positions, suggesting a relative randomness of Tn5 transposition targeting in the high-GC Streptomyces genome. From the mutagenesis library, 724 mutants involving 365 genes had altered levels of production of the tripyrrole antibiotic undecylprodigiosin (RED), including 17 genes in the RED biosynthetic gene cluster. Genetic complementation revealed that most of the insertions (more than two-thirds) were responsible for the changed antibiotic production. Genes associated with branched-chain amino acid biosynthesis, DNA metabolism, and protein modification affected RED production, and genes involved in signaling, stress, and transcriptional regulation were overrepresented. Some insertions caused dramatic changes in RED production, identifying future targets for strain improvement.IMPORTANCE High-GC Gram-positive streptomycetes and related actinomycetes have provided more than 100 clinical drugs used as antibiotics, immunosuppressants, and antitumor drugs. Their genomes harbor biosynthetic genes for many more unknown compounds with potential as future drugs. Here we developed a useful genome-wide mutagenesis tool based on the transposon Tn5 for the study of secondary metabolism and its regulation. Using Streptomyces coelicolor as a model strain, we found that chromosomal insertion was relatively random, except at some hot spots, though there was evidence of a slightly preferred 19-bp target site. We then used prodiginine production as a model to systematically survey genes affecting antibiotic biosynthesis, providing a global view of antibiotic regulation. The analysis revealed 348 genes that modulate antibiotic production, among which more than half act to reduce production. These might be valuable targets in future investigations of regulatory mechanisms, for strain improvement, and for the activation of silent biosynthetic gene clusters.