The Draft Whole-Genome Sequence of the Antibiotic Producer Empedobacter haloabium ATCC 31962 Provides Indications for Its Taxonomic Reclassification.

Strain ATCC 31962 was formerly taxonomically classified as Empedobacter haloabium and reported to be the producer of the lipopeptide antibiotic empedopeptin. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of ATCC 31962, which encodes regions that suggest a distinct biosynthetic capacity and suggests its taxonomic reclassification.

AGOS: A Plug-and-Play Method for the Assembly of Artificial Gene Operons into Functional Biosynthetic Gene Clusters.

The generation of novel secondary metabolites by reengineering or refactoring biochemical pathways is a rewarding but also challenging goal of synthetic biology. For this, the development of tools for the reconstruction of secondary metabolite gene clusters as well as the challenge of understanding the obstacles in this process is of great interest. The artificial gene operon assembly system (AGOS) is a plug-and-play method developed as a tool to consecutively assemble artificial gene operons into a destination vector and subsequently express them under the control of a de-repressed promoter in a Streptomyces host strain. AGOS was designed as a set of entry plasmids for the construction of artificial gene operons and a SuperCos1 based destination vector, into which the constructed operons can be assembled by Red/ET-mediated recombination. To provide a proof-of-concept of this method, we disassembled the well-known novobiocin biosynthetic gene cluster into four gene operons, encoding for the different moieties of novobiocin. We then genetically reorganized these gene operons with the help of AGOS to finally obtain the complete novobiocin gene cluster again. The production of novobiocin precursors and of novobiocin could successfully be detected by LC-MS and LC-MS/MS. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the omission of terminator sequences only had a minor impact on product formation in our system.

Characterization of DNA Binding Sites of RokB, a ROK-Family Regulator from Streptomyces coelicolor Reveals the RokB Regulon.

ROK-family proteins have been described to act either as sugar kinases or as transcriptional regulators. Few ROK-family regulators have been characterized so far and most of them are involved in carbon catabolite repression. RokB (Sco6115) has originally been identified in a DNA-affinity capturing approach as a possible regulator of the heterologously expressed novobiocin biosynthetic gene cluster in Streptomyces coelicolor M512. Interestingly, both, the rokB deletion mutants as well as its overexpressing mutants showed significantly reduced novobiocin production in the host strain S.coelicolor M512. We identified the DNA-binding site for RokB in the promoter region of the novobiocin biosynthetic genes novH-novW. It overlaps with the novH start codon which may explain the reduction of novobiocin production caused by overexpression of rokB. Bioinformatic screening coupled with surface plasmon resonance based interaction studies resulted in the discovery of five RokB binding sites within the genome of S. coelicolor. Using the genomic binding sites, a consensus motif for RokB was calculated, which differs slightly from previously determined binding motifs for ROK-family regulators. The annotations of the possible members of the so defined RokB regulon gave hints that RokB might be involved in amino acid metabolism and transport. This hypothesis was supported by feeding experiments with casamino acids and L-tyrosine, which could also explain the reduced novobiocin production in the deletion mutants.

DNA affinity capturing identifies new regulators of the heterologously expressed novobiocin gene cluster in Streptomyces coelicolor M512.

Understanding the regulation of a heterologously expressed gene cluster in a host organism is crucial for activation of silent gene clusters or overproduction of the corresponding natural product. In this study, Streptomyces coelicolor M512(nov-BG1) containing the novobiocin biosynthetic gene cluster from Streptomyces niveus NCIMB 11891 was chosen as a model. An improved DNA affinity capturing assay (DACA), combined with semi-quantitative mass spectrometry, was used to identify proteins binding to the promoter regions of the novobiocin gene cluster. Altogether, 2475 proteins were identified in DACA studies with the promoter regions of the pathway-specific regulators novE (PnovE) and novG (PnovG), of the biosynthetic genes novH-W (PnovH) and of the vegetative σ-factor hrdB (PhrdB) as a negative control. A restrictive classification for specific binding reduced this number to 17 proteins. Twelve of them were captured by PnovH, among them, NovG, two were captured by PnovE, and three by PnovG. Unexpectedly some well-known regulatory proteins, such as the global regulators NdgR, AdpA, SlbR, and WhiA were captured in similar intensities by all four tested promoter regions. Of the 17 promoter-specific proteins, three were studied in more detail by deletion mutagenesis and by overexpression. Two of them, BxlRSc and BxlR2Sc, could be identified as positive regulators of novobiocin production in S. coelicolor M512. Deletion of a third gene, sco0460, resulted in reduced novobiocin production, while overexpression had no effect. Furthermore, binding of BxlRSc to PnovH and to its own promoter region was confirmed via surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy.

Draft Genome Sequence of Streptomyces niveus NCIMB 11891, Producer of the Aminocoumarin Antibiotic Novobiocin.

Streptomyces niveus NCIMB 11891 is the producer of the gyrase inhibitor novobiocin, which belongs to the aminocoumarin class of antibiotics. The genome sequence of this strain was found to contain, besides the gene cluster for novobiocin, a putative gene cluster for the macrolactam antibiotic BE-14106 and further secondary metabolite gene clusters.

Draft Genome Sequence of Streptomyces roseochromogenes subsp. oscitans DS 12.976, Producer of the Aminocoumarin Antibiotic Clorobiocin.

Streptomyces roseochromogenes subsp. oscitans DS 12.976 is the producer of the gyrase-inhibiting aminocoumarin antibiotic clorobiocin. Here, we present a draft genome sequence of this strain, in which we identified the clorobiocin gene cluster as well as an unusually high number (43) of further putative secondary metabolite clusters.

Target genes and structure of the direct repeats in the DNA-binding sequences of the response regulator PhoP in Streptomyces coelicolor.

Expression of genes belonging to the pho regulon in Streptomyces coelicolor is positively regulated (as shown by comparing the wild-type and a DeltaphoP mutant) by binding of the response regulator PhoP to 11-nt direct repeats (DRus). These sequences have been found in over 100 genes of Streptomyces coelicolor; 20 of them were cloned and the binding of PhoP(DBD) to most of their promoters has been shown by electrophoretic mobility shift assays. Deletion experiments showed that at least two DRus are required for proper binding of PhoP(DBD). Deletion of 1 nt leaving a 10-nt direct repeat reduced drastically binding of PhoP(DBD). Three different types of operators have been identified. Complex operators (class III) contain up to six DRus, some of them with poor conservation of the 11-nt consensus sequence, which however were protected by PhoP(DBD) in footprinting analyses. A cooperative binding of PhoP(DBD) molecules initiated at conserved core DRus appears to be the mechanism involved in binding of several PhoP(DBD) monomers to those complex operators. The information theory-based model that incorporates the positive or negative contribution to the binding of PhoP(DBD) of adjacent sequences has been used to deduce the structure of PHO boxes and the relevance of each DRu.