Regulation of Streptomyces secondary metabolism by a butenolide-type autoregulator

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24780071
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Applied microbiology
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: KITANI Shigeru 大阪大学, 生物工学国際交流センター, 准教授 (10379117)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 抗生物質生産 / 放線菌 / エバメクチン / Streptomyces avermitilis

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Autoregulators elicit secondary metabolism by binding to the cognate receptors in actinomycetes. In this study, I report the molecular mechanism for the regulation of secondary metabolism by a butenolide-type autoregulator as another type of signaling molecule, the identification of actinomycetes producing the autoregulator, and the useful method for finding sleeping compounds in the genome. I demonstrated that the regulatory network composed of autoregulator, receptor, receptor-homologues, and autoregulator biosynthetic enzymes controls antibiotic production in Streptomyces avermitilis. Furthermore, gene inactivation of the receptor (homologue) genes or exogenous addition of the autoregulator led to increased production of silent compounds. These findings indicated that a butenolide-type autoregulator is a key molecule for not only understanding secondary metabolism in actinomycetes but also activating the numerous useful silent natural products.

Free Research Field

応用微生物