SummaryStreptomycetes form hydrophobic aerial hyphae that eventually septate into hydrophobic spores. Both aerial hyphae and spores possess a typical surface layer called the rodlet layer. We present here evidence that rodlet formation is conserved in the streptomycetes. The formation of the rodlet layer is the result of the interplay between rodlins and chaplins. A strain of Streptomyces coelicolor in which the rodlin genes rdlA and/or rdlB were deleted no longer formed the rodlet layer. Instead, these surfaces were decorated with fine fibrils. Deletion of all eight chaplin genes (strain D D D D chpABCDEFGH ) resulted in the absence of the rodlet layer as well as the fibrils at surfaces of aerial hyphae and spores. Apart from coating these surfaces, chaplins are involved in the escape of hyphae into the air, as was shown by the strong reduction in the number of aerial hyphae in the D D D D chpABC-DEFGH strain. The decrease in the number of aerial hyphae correlated with a lower expression of the rdl genes in the colony. Yet, expression per aerial hypha was similar to that in the wild-type strain, indicating that expression of the rdl genes is initiated after the hypha has sensed that it has grown into the air.

Six genes (nikP1, nikP2, nikS, nikT, nikU, and nikV) from Streptomyces tendae Tu901 were identified by analysis of the nucleotide sequence of the nikkomycin gene cluster. These genes, together with the previously described nikQ and nikR, span 9.39 kb and are transcribed as a polycistronic mRNA in a growth-phase-dependent manner. The nikP1 gene encodes a non-ribosomal peptide synthase consisting of an adenylation domain, a thiolation domain, and an N-terminal 70-residue segment of unknown function. The amino acid sequence encoded by the nikP2 gene displays similarity to the sequences of thioesterases, and the nikS product belongs to a superfamily of proteins characterized by a specific ATP-binding fold. The N-terminal 70 amino acids of the predicted nikT gene product show significant sequence similarity to acyl carrier proteins, and the C-terminal 330 amino acids to aminotransferases. The sequences of the deduced proteins NikU and NikV exhibit similarity to components S and E, respectively, of glutamate mutase from Clostridium. Disruption of the nikP1, nikS, nikT, or nikV gene by insertion of a kanamycin resistance cassette abolished formation of nikkomycins I, J, X, and Z, all of which contain hydroxypyridylhomothreonine as the peptidyl moiety. The nikP1 mutants, and the nikS and nikT mutants accumulated the nucleoside moieties nikkomycin Cz, and nikkomycins Cx and Cz, respectively. The nikV mutants formed nikkomycins Ox and Oz, which contain 2-amino-4-hydroxy-4-(3'-hydroxy-6'-pyridyl) butanoic acid as the peptidyl moiety. The nikP2 mutants synthesized nikkomycins I, J, X, and Z, but amounts of nikkomycins I and X, which contain formylimidazolone as the base, were lower. Feeding formylimidazolone to nikP2 mutants restored the ability to form nikkomycins I and X. Our results indicate that nikU and nikV are required for the synthesis of hydroxypyridylhomothreonine, the genes nikP1, nikP2 and nikS are required for the assembly of nikkomycins, and nikT is required for both pathways. The putative activities of each of their products are discussed.

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The afp1 gene, which encodes the antifungal protein AFP1, was cloned from nikkomycin-producing Streptomyces tendae Tü901, using a nikkomycin-negative mutant as a host and screening transformants for antifungal activity againstPaecilomyces variotii in agar diffusion assays. The 384-bpafp1 gene has a low G+C content (63%) and a transcription termination structure with a poly(T) region, unusual attributes forStreptomyces genes. AFP1 was purified from culture filtrate of S. tendae carrying the afp1 gene on the multicopy plasmid pIJ699. The purified protein had a molecular mass of 9,862 Da and lacked a 42-residue N-terminal peptide deduced from the nucleotide sequence. AFP1 was stable at extreme pH values and high temperatures and toward commercial proteinases. AFP1 had limited similarity to cellulose-binding domains of microbial plant cell wall hydrolases and bound to crab shell chitin, chitosan, and cell walls ofP. variotii but showed no enzyme activity. The biological activity of AFP1, which represents the first chitin-binding protein from bacteria exhibiting antifungal activity, was directed against specific ascomycetes, and synergistic interaction with the chitin synthetase inhibitor nikkomycin inhibited growth ofAspergillus species. Microscopy studies revealed that fluorescein-labeled AFP1 strongly bound to the surface of germinated conidia and to tips of growing hyphae, causing severe alterations in cell morphogenesis that gave rise to large spherical conidia and/or swollen hyphae and to atypical branching.

Protein P8 was previously identified as a putative nikkomycin biosynthesis protein. The gene (nikC) encoding protein P8 was cloned from the Streptomyces tendae Tü901 nikkomycin gene cluster and sequenced. The nikC gene was inactivated by inserting a kanamycin resistance cassette; the mutant did not produce the biologically active nikkomycins I, J, X, and Z, but accumulated the nucleoside moieties nikkomycins C X and C Z . The mutant was complemented to nikkomycin production (I, J, X, Z) by nikC expressed from the mel promoter of the vector pIJ702. Furthermore, the nikkomycin-negative phenotype was reversed by the addition of picolinic acid, a precursor of the peptidyl moiety of nikkomycins (nikkomycin D), into the culture medium. The nikC gene was expressed in Escherichia coli and identified and characterized at the enzyme level. NikC encodes an L-lysine 2-aminotransferase, and the activity was exclusively detected in nikkomycin producers and its presence correlated to nikkomycin production. The nikC-inactivated mutant grew with L-lysine as sole source of nitrogen and carbon, indicating that L-lysine 2-aminotransferase is not required for lysine catabolism. Our results identified the nikC-encoded L-lysine 2-aminotransferase as the nikkomycin biosynthetic enzyme that catalyzes the initial reaction in nikkomycin D biosynthesis. The NikC protein belongs to a novel family of pyridoxamine or pyridoxal-phosphate-dependent dehydrases and aminotransferases, some of which are involved in dideoxy-and deoxyaminosugar biosynthesis.Keywords : nikkomycin ; Streptomyces; lysine aminotransferase ; antibiotic production; secondary metabolism.Nikkomycins X and Z exhibit high antifungal, insecticidal, Nikkomycins are peptidyl nucleoside antibiotics that act as and acaricidal activity [7]. Since nikkomycins are nearly nonspecific and competitive inhibitors of chitin synthases from toxic for bees and mammals and are easily degraded in nature, fungi and insects [1Ϫ3]. Streptomyces tendae Tü901 produces they have the potential to be applied as insecticides in agriculvarious types of nikkomycin, and the main components of the ture or as antifungal agents in human therapy [8, 9]. Growth culture filtrate are nikkomycins I, J, X, and Z (Fig. 1). The peptiof Candida albicans is only inhibited at high concentrations of dyl moiety of these nikkomycins is hydroxypyridylhomothreonikkomycin X and Z [10], but combinations of nikkomycin with nine (nikkomycin D), and the nucleoside moiety consists of an antimycotically active azoles, which are directed against the funaminohexuronic acid with N-glycosidically bound 4-formyl-4-gal cytoplasmic membrane, are efficacious in treating mycosis in imidazoline-2-one (nikkomycin C X ) or uracil (nikkomycin C Z ) animals [11]. Nikkomycin Z is very effective against the highly [4]. Both moieties constitute A-amino acid structures that are chitinous, dimorphic fungal pathogens Coccidioides immitis, connected via a peptide bond to yield the dipeptidyl nikkomyBlastomyces dermatitidis, and Histoplasma capsulatum [...