Investigation of the molecular mechanism of mycolic acid-containing bacteria involved secondary metabolism activation by Streptomyces species

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K18673
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Applied microbiology
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Asamizu Shumpei 東京大学, 大学院農学生命科学研究科(農学部), 特任助教 (90709057)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 放線菌 / 二次代謝 / 微生物間相互作用 / ミコール酸含有細菌 / Streptomyces / Tsukamurella / 網羅的転写解析 / 変異株解析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Actinomycetes are producer of valuable secondary metabolites (SM) and are suggested to possess 20-40 of cryptic SM gene clusters. A group of mycolic acid-containing bacteria (MACB) was shown to activate the cryptic gene clusters of actinomycetes, and this project was to identify the gene(s) responsible for the response by Streptomyces to MACB and to elucidate the SM activation mechanism in Streptomyces. Using transcriptomic analysis, we found that the expression variation reached to more than 20% of whole genes in the co-culture by S. coelicolor at 8 hours. We also used heavy ion beam induced mutagenesis of S. coelicolor and screened the response deficient mutants. Among them, we had re-sequenced the mutant genomes of 16 strains and identified several genes responsible for the production of secondary metabolites. We are now targeting the genes responsible for the activation of SM and investigate molecular basis of the response system to MACB by Streptomyces species.

Free Research Field

応用微生物学