Urdamycins, new angucycline antibiotics from Streptomyces fradiae. IV. Biosynthetic studies of urdamycins A-D.

The biogenetic origin of the angucycline antibiotics urdamycins A-D was studied by feeding experiments with isotope labeled precursors and by NMR analysis. Feeding experiments with [1-13C]acetate and [1,2-13C2]acetate show that the chromophores of urdamycins A and B and the angucycline 4-ring skeleton of the urdamycins C and D chromophores are formed from a single decapolyketide chain. The chromophores of the urdamycins C and D contain additional structural elements which derived from the amino acids tyrosine and tryptophan, respectively. The latter was shown by feeding deuterium-labeled tyrosine and 13C-labeled tryptophan derivatives. Feeding of [1-13C]glucose and of [U-13C3]glycerol proved that the C-glycosidic moiety and the three sugars (2 x L-rhodinose, 1 x D-olivose each) of the urdamycins arise from glucose. Experiments with 14C-labeled urdamycin A, obtained by biosynthesis from [14C]acetate, showed this compound to be a late precursor of the urdamycins C and D.

Nucleotide sequence, transcription and deduced function of a gene involved in polyketide antibiotic synthesis in Streptomyces coelicolor.

The BamHI fragment containing the actIII gene, from the actinorhodin (Act) biosynthetic gene cluster of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2), was sequenced. The derived amino acid sequence for the actIII gene shows homology to known oxidoreductases and the actIII product is believed to be responsible for catalysing a beta-keto reductive step during assembly of the Act polyketide chain. High resolution transcript mapping identified the transcription start point at 33 nucleotides upstream of the putative translation start codon. The transcript ends in a large invertedly repeated sequence. In vivo promoter-probe studies suggest that efficient transcription of the actIII gene requires the product of the actII gene.

Metabolic products of microorganisms. 249. Tetracenomycins B3 and D3, key intermediates of the elloramycin and tetracenomycin C biosynthesis.

Tetracenomycins B3 and D3, besides tetracenomycin D (D1), were produced by a blocked mutant of the elloramycin producer Streptomyces olivaceus TU 2353. The compounds were isolated as red powders, and their structures were elucidated by comparing their physicochemical data with those of the known tetracenomycins A2, B1, B2, D and E. Tetracenomycin B3 (2), the main compound, and tetracenomycin D (3) were antibiotically inactive against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, whereas tetracenomycin D3 (1) showed a moderate activity against Bacillus subtilis and Arthrobacter aurescens. Tetracenomycin B3 (2) is the key intermediate where the biosynthesis of the elloramycins branches off from the line leading to tetracenomycin C (5) as the final product of the tetracenomycin biosynthesis branch.

Identification of an anthraquinone pigment and a hydroxystilbene antibiotic from Xenorhabdus luminescens.

The entomopathogenic bacterium Xenorhabdus luminescens produces a red pigment and an antibiotic in insect carcasses in which it grows and in axenic cultures. The pigment was purified and identified as the anthraquinone derivative 1,6-dihydroxy-4-methoxy-9,10-anthraquinone, which exhibits a pH-sensitive color change, i.e., it is yellow below pH 9 and red above pH 9. The antibiotic was also purified and identified as the hydroxystilbene derivative 3,5-dihydroxy-4-isopropylstilbene.

K-259-2, a new inhibitor of Ca2+ and calmodulin-dependent cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase from Micromonospora olivasterospora.

K-259-2, a new inhibitor of Ca2+ and calmodulin-dependent cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase, was isolated from the cultured broth of Micromonospora olivasterospora K-259. K-259-2 has an anthraquinone moiety in its structure. IC50 values for the effect of K-259-2 against Ca2+ and calmodulin-stimulated activity of the enzyme preparations from bovine brain and heart were 6.6 and 2.9 microM, respectively. On the other hand, basal activity (the activity in the presence of ethylene bis(oxyethylenenitrilo)tetraacetic acid (EGTA) instead of Ca2+/calmodulin) of the bovine brain enzyme, calmodulin-independent cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase from bovine heart, and protein kinase C from rat brain were inhibited by K-259-2 to a lesser extent with IC50 values of 27.4, 40.7 and 45.8 microM, respectively.

KS-619-1, a new inhibitor of Ca2+ and calmodulin-dependent cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase from Streptomyces californicus.

KS-619-1, a new inhibitor of Ca2+ and calmodulin-dependent cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase, was isolated from the cultured broth of Streptomyces californicus. KS-619-1 has an anthraquinone moiety. IC50 values for the effect of KS-619-1 on Ca2+ and calmodulin-stimulated activity of bovine brain and heart enzymes were 2.0 and 1.5 microM, respectively. On the other hand, basal activity (the activity in the presence of ethylene bis(oxyethylenenitrilo)tetraacetic acid (EGTA) instead of Ca2+/calmodulin) of the bovine brain enzyme, calmodulin-independent cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase from bovine heart, and protein kinase C from rat brain were inhibited by KS-619-1 to a lesser extent with IC50 values; 12.3, 25.9 and 151 microM, respectively.

Biosynthesis of the antibiotic actinorhodin. Analysis of blocked mutants of Streptomyces coelicolor.

From two types of class V act mutants of Streptomyces coelicolor two monomeric precursors of actinorhodin have been isolated and their structures determined. One is the known antibiotic kalafungin and the other a new compound. Their relationship to actinorhodin biosynthesis is discussed.

Homology between Streptomyces genes coding for synthesis of different polyketides used to clone antibiotic biosynthetic genes.

Many important antibiotics such as tetracyclines, erythromycin, adriamycin, monensin, rifamycin and avermectins are polyketides. In their biosynthesis, multifunctional synthases catalyse iterated condensation of thio-esters derived from acetate, propionate or butyrate to yield aliphatic chains of varying length and carrying different alkyl substituents. Subsequent modifications, including aromatic or macrolide ring closure or specific methylations or glycosylations, generate further chemical diversity. It has been suggested that, if different polyketide synthases had a common evolutionary origin, cloned DNA coding for one synthase might be used as a hybridization probe for the isolation of others. We show here that this is indeed possible. Study of a range of such synthase genes and their products should help to elucidate what determines the choice and order of condensation of different residues in polyketide assembly, and might yield, by in vitro recombination or mutagenesis, synthase genes capable of producing novel antibiotics. Moreover, because genes for entire antibiotic pathways are usually clustered in Streptomyces, cloned polyketide synthase genes are valuable in giving access to groups of linked biosynthetic genes.

Averufanin is an aflatoxin B1 precursor between averantin and averufin in the biosynthetic pathway.

Wild-type Aspergillus parasiticus produces, in addition to the colorless aflatoxins, a number of pigmented secondary metabolites. Examination of these pigments demonstrated that a major component was an anthraquinone, averufanin. Radiolabeling studies with [14C]averufanin showed that 23% of the label was incorporated into aflatoxin B1 by the wild type and that 31% of the label was incorporated into O-methylsterigmatocystin by a non-aflatoxin-producing isolate. In similar studies with blocked mutants of A. parasiticus the 14C label from averufanin was accumulated in averufin (72%) and versicolorin A (54%) but not averantin. The results demonstrate that averufanin is a biosynthetic precursor of aflatoxin B1 between averantin and averufin.

Benzanthrins A and B, a new class of quinone antibiotics. I. Discovery, fermentation and antibacterial activity.

Nocardia lurida has been shown to produce two novel quinone antibiotics, benzanthrins A and B. The antibiotics were discovered in concentrated butanol extracts of fermentation broths and were separated by TLC and HPLC. Benzanthrins A and B were produced in a fermentation medium consisting of glucose, yeast, selected peptones and CaCO3. The antibiotics were present primarily at 66 hours in shake flask fermentations and from 66 to 162 hours in 14-liter fermentors. Benzanthrins A and B inhibited a number of Gram-positive pathogenic bacteria but were inactive against Gram-negative bacteria.

Nucleotide sequence of afsB, a pleiotropic gene involved in secondary metabolism in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) and "Streptomyces lividans".

The nucleotide sequence of afsB from Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2), a pleiotropic gene which positively controls the biosynthesis of A-factor and the pigmented antibiotics actinorhodin and undecylprodigiosin in S. coelicolor A3(2) and "Streptomyces lividans," was determined. The determinant of the afsB gene, which includes the putative AfsB protein consisting of 243 amino acids, was mapped functionally by tests for A-factor and pigment production in "S. lividans" and S. coelicolor A3(2) after introduction of recombinant plasmids containing various restriction endonuclease fragments on the vector plasmids pIJ41 and pIJ702. The putative AfsB protein contains two regions separated by 167 residues which resemble conserved domains of known DNA-binding proteins. High-resolution nuclease S1 protection mapping revealed that the afsB mRNA, approximately 1,300 base pairs (bp) long, which was determined by Northern blot hybridization, had its start point 340 bp upstream of the putative methionine start codon. The Northern hybridization experiment also suggested that the afsB gene was constitutively transcribed throughout growth. Also shown by the Northern hybridization was the presence of an unidentified gene with an extraordinary amount of 880-bp mRNA located downstream from afsB. Dot hybridization with the brown pigment production genes, possibly involved in polyketide biosynthesis, as the probe suggested that the afsB gene did not stimulate transcription of the pigment production genes. In Southern blot DNA-DNA hybridization analysis with the afsB sequence as the probe, sequences exhibiting various degrees of homology were found in several Streptomyces spp. A DNA sequence showing strong homology to the afsB in Streptomyces griseus FT-1, a high streptomycin producer, behaved like an extrachromosomal element, homologous to the afsA gene, a structural gene for A-factor biosynthesis.

Physical and genetic characterisation of the gene cluster for the antibiotic actinorhodin in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2).

We determined the physical and transcriptional organisation of the set of previously cloned biosynthetic genes involved in the production of the polyketide antibiotic actinorhodin by Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2). Complementation and mutational cloning analyses (in part using new phi C31 phage vectors incorporating a transcriptional terminator to block transcription from vector promoters into the cloned DNA) indicate that all the biosynthetic genes, including at least one regulatory (activator) gene, are clustered in a chromosomal region of about 26 kb. The genes are organised in at least four separate transcription units, ranging in size from 1 kb for the class III gene, to a polycistronic transcript of at least 5 kb for the class I, VII and IV genes. Indirect evidence shows that resistance to actinorhodin is also determined by the cloned DNA.

Dothistromin as a metabolite of Cercospora arachidicola.

The known phytotoxin dothistromin has been newly identified as a metabolite of the peanut pathogen Cercospora arachidicola. The potential of the substance as a mycotoxin is discussed.