naphthoquinones and actinorhodin

Proteins belonging to the NTF2-like superfamily are present in the biosynthetic pathways of numerous polyketide natural products, such as anthracyclins and benzoisochromanequinones. Some have been found to be bona fide polyketide cyclases, but many of them have roles that are currently unknown. Here, the X-ray crystal structures of three NTF2-like proteins of unknown function are reported: those of ActVI-ORFA from Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) and its homologs Caci_6494, a protein from an uncharacterized biosynthetic cluster in Catenulispora acidiphila, and Aln2 from Streptomyces sp. CM020, a protein in the biosynthetic pathway of alnumycin. The presence of a solvent-accessible cavity and the conservation of the His/Asp dyad that is characteristic of many polyketide cyclases suggest a potential enzymatic role for these enzymes in polyketide biosynthesis.

Topics: Actinobacteria; Amino Acid Sequence; Anthraquinones; Bacterial Proteins; Binding Sites; Cloning, Molecular; Crystallography, X-Ray; Escherichia coli; Gene Expression; Genetic Vectors; Models, Molecular; Multigene Family; Naphthoquinones; Polyketides; Protein Binding; Protein Conformation, alpha-Helical; Protein Conformation, beta-Strand; Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs; Recombinant Proteins; Streptomyces; Streptomyces coelicolor; Substrate Specificity

A strategy based on bidirectional Dötz benzannulation and the oxa-Pictet-Spengler reaction toward the synthesis of actinorhodin and γ-actinorhodin has been explored. This work has resulted in the synthesis of deoxyactinorhodin and deoxy-γ-actinorhodin. The latter is a regioisomer of crisamicin A (which has 10,10'-dihydroxy groups).

Topics: Anthraquinones; Cyclization; Lactones; Naphthoquinones; Stereoisomerism; Streptomyces coelicolor

Topics: Anthraquinones; Bacterial Proteins; Biosynthetic Pathways; Molecular Structure; Mutant Proteins; Naphthoquinones; Spectrum Analysis; Streptomyces coelicolor

Medermycin, a polyketide antibiotic, possesses strong bioactivity against a variety of tumors through a novel mechanism and is structurally featured with a pyran ring containing two chiral centers (3S and 15R). By far the biosynthetic origin of such enantiomerical conformations still remains obscure. In the present study, we reported the functional characterization of a proposed ketoreductase Med-ORF12 encoded by medermycin biosynthetic cluster and revealed its involvement in the stereochemical control at C3 center of medermycin. Firstly, bioinformatics analysis of Med-ORF12 suggested that it belongs to a group of stereospecific ketoreductases. Next, a Med-ORF12-deficient mutant was obtained and LC/MS measurements demonstrated that medermycin production was completely abolished in this mutant. Meanwhile, it was found that two shunt products were accumulated at the absence of Med-ORF12. Finally, the reintroduction of Med-ORF12 into this mutant could restore the production of medermycin. In a conclusion, these data supported that Med-ORF12 is essential for the biosynthesis of medermycin and performs its role as a stereospecifc ketoreductase in the tailoring steps of medermycin biosynthetic pathway.

Topics: Alcohol Oxidoreductases; Amino Acid Sequence; Anthraquinones; Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; Bacterial Proteins; Biosynthetic Pathways; Computational Biology; Genes, Bacterial; Genetic Complementation Test; Metabolomics; Molecular Sequence Data; Multigene Family; Mutation; Naphthoquinones; Open Reading Frames; Phylogeny; Pyrans; Sequence Alignment; Stereoisomerism; Streptomyces

Topics: Anthraquinones; Anti-Bacterial Agents; DNA, Bacterial; DNA, Ribosomal; Gram-Positive Bacteria; Japan; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Molecular Sequence Data; Molecular Structure; Naphthoquinones; Pyrans; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Soil Microbiology; Streptomyces

Actinorhodin (ACT) produced by Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) belongs to the benzoisochromanequinone (BIQ) class of antibiotics. ActVA-ORF5, a flavin-dependent monooxygenase (FMO) essential for ACT biosynthesis, forms a two-component enzyme system in combination with a flavin:NADH oxidoreductase, ActVB. The genes for homologous two-component FMOs are found in the biosynthetic gene clusters for two other BIQs, granaticin (GRA) and medermycin (MED), and a closely related antibiotic, alnumycin (ALN). Our functional analysis of these FMOs (ActVA-ORF5, Gra-ORF21, Med-ORF7, and AlnT) in S. coelicolor unambiguously demonstrated that ActVA-ORF5 and Gra-ORF21 are bifunctional and capable of both p-quinone formation at C-6 in the central ring and C-8 hydroxylation in the lateral ring, whereas Med-ORF7 catalyzes only p-quinone formation. No p-quinone formation on a BIQ substrate was observed for AlnT, which is involved in lateral p-quinone formation in ALN.

Topics: Anthraquinones; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bacterial Proteins; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Mixed Function Oxygenases; Multigene Family; NADH, NADPH Oxidoreductases; Naphthoquinones; Quinones; Recombinant Proteins; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; Streptomyces

Ribosome assembly cofactor RimP is one of the auxiliary proteins required for maturation of the 30S subunit in Escherichia coli. Although RimP in protein synthesis is important, its role in secondary metabolites biosynthesis has not been reported so far. Considering the close relationship between protein synthesis and the production of secondary metabolites, the function of ribosome assembly cofactor RimP on antibiotics production was studied in Streptomyces coelicolor and Streptomyces venezuelae.. In this study, the rimP homologue rimP-SC was identified and cloned from Streptomyces coelicolor. Disruption of rimP-SC led to enhanced production of actinorhodin and calcium-dependent antibiotics by promoting the transcription of actII-ORF4 and cdaR. Further experiments demonstrated that MetK was one of the reasons for the increment of antibiotics production. In addition, rimP-SC disruption mutant could be used as a host to produce more peptidyl nucleoside antibiotics (polyoxin or nikkomycin) than the wild-type strain. Likewise, disruption of rimP-SV of Streptomyces venezuelae also significantly stimulated jadomycin production, suggesting that enhanced antibiotics production might be widespread in many other Streptomyces species.. These results established an important relationship between ribosome assembly cofactor and secondary metabolites biosynthesis and provided an approach for yield improvement of secondary metabolites in Streptomyces.

Topics: Actins; Amino Acid Sequence; Aminoglycosides; Anthraquinones; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bacterial Proteins; Biomass; Catechol 1,2-Dioxygenase; Helminth Proteins; Isoquinolines; Methionine Adenosyltransferase; Molecular Sequence Data; Naphthoquinones; Pyrimidine Nucleosides; Ribosome Subunits, Small, Bacterial; Ribosomes; Sequence Alignment; Streptomyces coelicolor; Transcription, Genetic

Many microorganisms produce molecules having antibiotic activity and expel them into the environment, presumably enhancing their ability to compete with their neighbours. Given that these molecules are often toxic to the producer, mechanisms must exist to ensure that the assembly of the export apparatus accompanies or precedes biosynthesis. Streptomyces coelicolor produces the polyketide antibiotic actinorhodin in a multistep pathway involving enzymes encoded by genes that are clustered together. Embedded within the cluster are genes for actinorhodin export, two of which, actR and actA resemble the classic tetR and tetA repressor/efflux pump-encoding gene pairs that confer resistance to tetracycline. Like TetR, which represses tetA, ActR is a repressor of actA. We have identified several molecules that can relieve repression by ActR. Importantly (S)-DNPA (an intermediate in the actinorhodin biosynthetic pathway) and kalafungin (a molecule related to the intermediate dihydrokalafungin), are especially potent ActR ligands. This suggests that along with the mature antibiotic(s), intermediates in the biosynthetic pathway might activate expression of the export genes thereby coupling export to biosynthesis. We suggest that this could be a common feature in the production of many bioactive natural products.

Topics: Anthraquinones; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bacterial Proteins; Biological Transport; Biosensing Techniques; DNA, Bacterial; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; Ligands; Multigene Family; Mutation; Naphthalenes; Naphthoquinones; Pyrans; Repressor Proteins; Streptomyces coelicolor; Tetracycline

The ActVA-ActVB system from Streptomyces coelicolor isatwo-component flavin-dependent monooxygenase that belongs to an emerging class of enzymes involved in various oxidation reactions in microorganisms. The ActVB component is a NADH:flavin oxidoreductase that provides a reduced FMN to the second component, ActVA the proper monooxygenase. In this work, we demonstrate that the ActVA-ActVB system catalyzes the aromatic monohydroxylation of dihydrokalafungin by molecular oxygen. In the presence of reduced FMN and molecular oxygen, the ActVA active site accommodates and stabilizes an electrophilic flavin FMN-OOH hydroperoxide intermediate species as the oxidant. Surprisingly, we demonstrate that the quinone form of dihydrokalafungin is not oxidized by the ActVA-ActVB system, whereas the corresponding hydroquinone is an excellent substrate. The enantiomer of dihydrokalafungin, nanaomycin A, as well as the enantiomer of kalafungin, nanaomycin D, are also substrates in their hydroquinone forms. The previously postulated product of the ActVA-ActVB system, the antibiotic actinorhodin, was not found to be formed during the oxidation reaction.

Topics: Anthraquinones; Flavins; FMN Reductase; Hydrogen Peroxide; Hydroquinones; Hydroxylation; Mixed Function Oxygenases; Naphthoquinones; Oxidants; Quinones; Streptomyces coelicolor; Substrate Specificity

Medermycin is a Streptomyces aromatic C-glycoside antibiotic classified in the benzoisochromanequinones (BIQs), which presents several interesting biosynthetic problems concerning polyketide synthase (PKS), post-PKS tailoring and deoxysugar pathways. The biosynthetic gene cluster for medermycin (the med cluster) was cloned from Streptomyces sp. AM-7161. Completeness of the clone was proved by the heterologous expression of a cosmid carrying the entire med cluster in Streptomyces coelicolor CH999 to produce medermycin. The DNA sequence of the cosmid (36 202 bp) revealed 34 complete ORFs, with an incomplete ORF at either end. Functional assignment of the deduced products was made for PKS and biosynthetically related enzymes, tailoring steps including strereochemical control, oxidation, angolosamine pathway, C-glycosylation, and regulation. The med cluster was estimated to be about 30 kb long, covering 29 ORFs. An unusual characteristic of the cluster is the disconnected organization of the minimal PKS genes: med-ORF23 encoding the acyl carrier protein is 20 kb apart from med-ORF1 and med-ORF2 for the two ketosynthase components. Secondly, the six genes (med-ORF14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 20) for the biosynthesis of the deoxysugar, angolosamine, are all contiguous. Finally, the finding of a glycosyltransferase gene, med-ORF8, suggests a possible involvement of conventional C-glycosylation in medermycin biosynthesis. Comparison among the three complete BIQ gene clusters - med and those for actinorhodin (act) and granaticin (gra) - revealed some common genes whose deduced functions are unavailable from database searches (the 'unknowns'). An example is med-ORF5, a homologue of actVI-ORF3 and gra-ORF18, which was highlighted by a recent proteomic analysis of S. coelicolor A3(2).

Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Anthraquinones; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Base Sequence; Biological Transport, Active; Cloning, Molecular; DNA, Bacterial; Genes, Bacterial; Genes, Regulator; Glycosylation; Hydroxylation; Molecular Sequence Data; Multienzyme Complexes; Multigene Family; Naphthoquinones; Open Reading Frames; Oxidation-Reduction; Phylogeny; Quinones; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Stereoisomerism; Streptomyces

A mutation in actVI-ORF1, which controls C-3 reduction in actinorhodin biosynthesis by Streptomyces coelicolor, was complemented by gra-ORF5 and -ORF6 from the granaticin biosynthetic gene cluster of Streptomyces violaceoruber Tü22. It is hypothesized that, while gra-ORF5 alone is a ketoreductase for C-9, gra-ORF6 gives the enzyme regiospecificity also for C-3.

Topics: Alcohol Oxidoreductases; Anthraquinones; Bacterial Proteins; Conjugation, Genetic; Genetic Complementation Test; Mutation; Naphthoquinones; Pyrans; Streptomyces

A fragment of DNA was cloned from the Streptomyces griseus K-63 genome by using genes (act) for the actinorhodin polyketide synthase (PKS) of Streptomyces coelicolor as a probe. Sequencing of a 5.4-kb segment of the cloned DNA revealed a set of five gris open reading frames (ORFs), corresponding to the act PKS genes, in the following order: ORF1 for a ketosynthase, ORF2 for a chain length-determining factor, ORF3 for an acyl carrier protein, ORF5 for a ketoreductase, and ORF4 for a cyclase-dehydrase. Replacement of the gris genes with a marker gene in the S. griseus genome by using a single-stranded suicide vector propagated in Escherichia coli resulted in loss of the ability to produce griseusins A and B, showing that the five gris genes do indeed encode the type II griseusin PKS. These genes, encoding a PKS that is programmed differently from those for other aromatic PKSs so far available, will provide further valuable material for analysis of the programming mechanism by the construction and analysis of strains carrying hybrid PKS.

Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Anthraquinones; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Base Sequence; Cloning, Molecular; Genes, Bacterial; Molecular Sequence Data; Multienzyme Complexes; Multigene Family; Mutagenesis, Insertional; Naphthoquinones; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Streptomyces griseus

Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) and Streptomyces violaceoruber Tü22 produce the antibiotics actinorhodin and granaticin, respectively. Both the aglycone of granaticin and the half-molecule of actinorhodin are derived from one acetyl coenzyme A starter unit and seven malonyl coenzyme A extender units via the polyketide pathway to produce benzoisochromane quinone moieties with identical structures (except for the stereochemistry at two chiral centers). In S. coelicolor and S. violaceoruber, the type II polyketide synthase (PKS) is encoded by clusters of five and six genes, respectively. We complemented a series of S. coelicolor mutants (act) defective in different components of the PKS (actI for carbon chain assembly, actIII for ketoreduction, and actVII for cyclization-dehydration) by the corresponding genes (gra) from S. violaceoruber introduced in trans on low-copy-number plasmids. This procedure showed that four of the act PKS components could be replaced by a heterologous gra protein to give a functional PKS. The analysis also served to identify which of three candidate open reading frames (ORFs) in the actI region had been altered in each of a set of 13 actI mutants. It also proved that actI-ORF2 (whose putative protein product shows overall similarity to the beta-ketoacyl synthase encoded by actI-ORF1 but whose function is unclear) is essential for PKS function. Mutations in each of the four complemented act genes (actI-ORF1, actI-ORF2, actIII, and actVII) were cloned and sequenced, revealing a nonsense or frameshift mutation in each mutant.

Topics: Anthraquinones; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; Genetic Complementation Test; Multienzyme Complexes; Mutagenesis; Naphthoquinones; Sequence Homology; Streptomyces

Large actI, III-homologous DNA fragments were isolated from genomic libraries of the strains that produce the benzoisochromanequinone antibiotics kalafungin and nanaomycin A methyl ester, Streptomyces tanashiensis strain Kala and Streptomyces sp. OM-173, respectively. These libraries were prepared in Escherichia coli JM108 by using a novel Streptomyces-E. coli bifunctional cosmid, pKU205, and screened with polyketide synthase genes (actI and III) for actinorhodin biosynthesis from Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) as probes. The cloned DNA fragments (28 and 42 kb) were analyzed by hybridization with DNA containing actinorhodin biosynthetic genes (actI, II, III, IV, VA, VB, VI and VII). Both fragments hybridized with the actI, III, VA and VI regions, but not with the actII, IV, VB and VII regions. The cloned fragment of S. tanashiensis DNA was analyzed by complementation tests with kalafungin-nonproducing mutants. Seven genes (kalI approximately VII), which correspond to seven steps in kalafungin biosynthesis, were found to be located on a 14 kb continuous DNA fragment. Five of the genes were located on the regions homologous to the genes for actinorhodin biosynthesis, but the other two genes were not. Although kalafungin is an intermediate or shunt product in actinorhodin biosynthesis in S. coelicolor A3(2), the genes for kalafungin biosynthesis in S. tanashiensis are not identical with those in S. coelicolor A3(2).

Topics: Anthraquinones; Antifungal Agents; Cloning, Molecular; DNA; Genes, Bacterial; Genomic Library; Hybridization, Genetic; Naphthoquinones; Streptomyces

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.

Topics: Anthraquinones; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Chemical Phenomena; Chemistry; Circular Dichroism; Fermentation; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Naphthoquinones; Streptomyces