Industrial enzymatic production of cephalosporin-based beta-lactams.

Cephalosporins are chemically closely related to penicillins both work by inhibiting the cell wall synthesis of bacteria. The first generation cephalosporins entered the market in 1964. Second and third generation cephalosporins were subsequently developed that were more powerful than the original products. Fourth generation cephalosporins are now reaching the market. Each newer generation of cephalosporins has greater Gram-negative antimicrobial properties than the preceding generation. Conversely, the 'older' generations of cephalosporins have greater Gram-positive (Staphylococcus and Streptococcus) coverage than the 'newer' generations. Frequency of dosing decreases and palatability generally improve with increasing generations. The advent of fourth generation cephalosporins with the launch of cefepime extended the spectrum against Gram-positive organisms without a significant loss of activity towards Gram-negative bacteria. Its greater stability to beta-lactamases increases its efficacy against drug-resistant bacteria. In this review we present the current situation of this mature market. In addition, we present the current state of the technologies employed for the production of cephalosporins, focusing on the new and environmentally safer 'green' routes to the products. Starting with the fermentation and purification of CPC, enzymatic conversion in conjunction with aqueous chemistry will lead to some key intermediates such as 7-ACA, TDA and TTA, which then can be converted into the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), again applying biocatalytic technologies and aqueous chemistry. Examples for the costing of selected products are provided as well.

Proteomic studies of diauxic lag in the differentiating prokaryote Streptomyces coelicolor reveal a regulatory network of stress-induced proteins and central metabolic enzymes.

Bacteria typically undergo intermittent periods of starvation and adaptation, emulated as diauxic growth in the laboratory. In association with growth arrest elicited by metabolic stress, the differentiating eubacterium Streptomyces coelicolor not only adapts its primary metabolism, but can also activate developmental programmes leading to morphogenesis and antibiotic biosynthesis. Here, we report combined proteomic and metabolomic data of S. coelicolor used to analyse global changes in gene expression during diauxic growth in a defined liquid medium. Cultures initially grew on glutamate, providing the nitrogen source and feeding carbon (as 2-oxoglutarate) into the TCA cycle, followed by a diauxic delay allowing reorientation of metabolism and a second round of growth supported by NH4+, formed during prediauxic phase, and maltose, a glycolytic substrate. Cultures finally entered stationary phase as a result of nitrogen starvation. These four physiological states had previously been defined statistically by their distinct patterns of protein synthesis and heat shock responses. Together, these data demonstrated that the rates of synthesis of heat shock proteins are determined not only by temperature increase but also by the patterns and rates of metabolic flux in certain pathways. Synthesis profiles for metabolic- and stress-induced proteins can now be interpreted by the identification of 204 spots (SWICZ database presented at http://proteom.biomed.cas.cz). Cluster analysis showed that the activity of central metabolic enzymes involved in glycolysis, the TCA cycle, starvation or proteolysis each displayed identifiable patterns of synthesis that logically underlie the metabolic state of the culture. Diauxic lag was accompanied by a structured regulatory programme involving the sequential activation of heat-, salt-, cold- and bacteriostatic antibiotic (pristinamycin I, PI)-induced stimulons. Although stress stimulons presumably provide protection during environmental- or starvation-induced stress, their identities did not reveal any coherent adaptive or developmental functions. These studies revealed interactive regulation of metabolic and stress response systems including some proteins known to support developmental programmes in S. coelicolor.

Polycistronic gene expression in yeast versus cryptic promoter elements.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a much preferred host for biotechnological applications. However, the expression of entire heterologous pathways, required for some potential products, is technically challenging in yeast. A possible tool would be polycistronic gene expression. Recent studies demonstrated that short 5' untranslated regions (5'UTRs) found upstream of certain genes support cap-independent translation in vitro. In this study 5'UTRs were used as linkers between genes in polycistronic constructs. Expression levels of genes located in the first, second and third position after a promoter were studied by replacing the respective gene by a promoterless green fluorescence protein (GFP) gene. S. cerevisiae transformed with these constructs was grown on different carbon sources and GFP expression was assayed. Our results demonstrate that (i) ribosomal read-through does not suffice for polycistronic gene expression in vivo, (ii) 5'TFIID and 5'HAP4 but not 5'L-A significantly improve the expression of a reporter gene located second in a bicistron, (iii) 5'TFIID, 5'HAP4 and 5'YAP1 but not 5'L-A can drive expression of a promoterless reporter gene, and (iv) expression driven from 5'TFIID, 5'HAP4 and 5'YAP1 is induced in the presence of raffinose or galactose but not in the presence of glucose. This implies that these elements unlike typical internal ribosome entry site-like structures contain small, potentially useful promoters which support carbon source-regulated expression.

Genetic engineering of an industrial strain of Saccharopolyspora erythraea for stable expression of the Vitreoscilla haemoglobin gene (vhb).

Several Actinomycetes/Streptomycetes expression vectors are described for expression of the Vitreoscilla haemoglobin gene (vhb) in an industrial erythromycin-producing strain of Saccharopolyspora erythraea. Cloning of vhb under the control of either the thiostrepton-inducible PtipA promoter or the constitutive PermE* promoter led to the production of chemically active haemoglobin (VHb) in Streptomyces lividans TK24 transformed with these constructs. However, theplasmids could not be transformed into Sac. erythraea. Transformants of Sac. erythraea and/or exconjugants were obtained using a novel Escherichia coli/Streptomyces shuttle vector comprised of vhb under the control of the PermE* promoter, the Streptomyces plasmid pIJ350 origin of replication, the thiostrepton-resistance gene (tsr) for selection, and the oriT region which is necessary for conjugal transfer. Increased plasmid stability in Sac. erythraea was obtained by construction of a vector for chromosomal integration. This vector contained the Streptomyces phage phi C31 attachment site for chromosomal integration and vhb expressed under the PmerR promoter and was stably maintained in the chromosome of Sac. erythraea. Shake-flask cultivations of the transformed Sac. erythraea strain with the chromosomally integrated vhb gene show that vhb is expressed in an active form. The corresponding amount of erythromycin produced in the vhb-expressing strain was approximately 60% higher relative to the original VHb-negative strain.