Analysis of the genome of Streptomyces aizunensis NRRL B-11277 indicated its potential to produce a compound of novel and highly predictable structure. The structure was predicted with sufficient accuracy to allow straightforward detection of the specific metabolite in HPLC profiles of fermentation extracts and hence to guide the isolation. The spectroscopic work was reduced to a confirmation of structure rather than a first principle determination. The compound, ECO-02301 (1), demonstrated potent antifungal activity. This work exemplifies not only the discovery of novel antibiotics from well-characterized organisms but also the utility of genomics as a further tool, complementary to spectroscopy, to enable rapid determination of complex structures.
Regions of the Streptomyces venezuelae ISP5230 chromosome flanking pabAB, an amino-deoxychorismate synthase gene needed for chloramphenicol (Cm) production, were examined for involvement in biosynthesis of the antibiotic. Three of four ORFs in the sequence downstream of pabAB resembled genes involved in the shikimate pathway. BLASTX searches of GenBank showed that the deduced amino acid sequences of ORF3 and ORF4 were similar to proteins encoded by monofunctional genes for chorismate mutase and prephenate dehydrogenase, respectively, while the sequence of the ORF5 product resembled deoxy-arabino-heptulosonate-7-phosphate (DAHP) synthase, the enzyme that initiates the shikimate pathway. A relationship to Cm biosynthesis was indicated by sequence similarities between the ORF6 product and membrane proteins associated with Cm export. BLASTX searches of GenBank for matches with the translated sequence of ORF1 in chromosomal DNA immediately upstream of pabAB did not detect products relevant to Cm biosynthesis. However, the presence of Cm biosynthesis genes in a 75 kb segment of the chromosome beyond ORF1 was inferred when conjugal transfer of the DNA into a blocked S. venezuelae mutant restored Cm production. Deletions in the 75 kb segment of the wild-type chromosome eliminated Cm production, confirming the presence of Cm biosynthesis genes in this region. Sequencing and analysis located five ORFs, one of which (ORF8) was deduced from BLAST searches of GenBank, and from characteristic motifs detected in alignments of its deduced amino acid sequence, to be a monomodular nonribosomal peptide synthetase. GenBank searches did not identify ORF7, but matched the translated sequences of ORFs 9, 10 and 11 with short-chain ketoreductases, the ATP-binding cassettes of ABC transporters, and coenzyme A ligases, respectively. As has been shown for ORF2, disrupting ORF3, ORF7, ORF8 or ORF9 blocked Cm production.
Genomic analyses of Amycolatopsis orientalis ATCC 43491 strain, deposited as a vancomycin producer, revealed the presence of genetic loci for the production of at least 10 secondary metabolites other than vancomycin. One of these gene clusters, which contained a type I polyketide synthase, was predicted to direct the synthesis of novel class of compound, a glycosidic polyketide ECO-0501 (1). Screening of culture extracts for a compound with the predicted physicochemical properties of the product from this locus, led to the isolation of the 13-Oglucuronide of 13-hydroxy-2,12,14,16,22-pentamethyl-28-(N-methyl-guanidino)-octacosa-2,4,6,8,10,14,20,24-octaenoic acid (2-hydroxy-5-oxo-cyclopent-1-enyl)-amide (ECO-0501, 1). The structure, confirmed by spectral analyses including MS, and 1D and 2D NMR experiments, were in accord with that predicted by genomic analyses. ECO-0501 possessed strong antibacterial activity against a series of Gram-positive pathogens including several strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE). ECO-0501 was chemically modified by esterification (1aϳ1c), Nacetylation (1d) and hydrogenation (1e) in order to explore structure activity relationships (SAR). Keywords Amycolatopsis orientalis, ECO-0501, antibacterial, PKS I IntroductionDrug-resistant bacterial infections are a growing health concern. Resistance has been developed to every major class of antibiotics on the market, and an increasing number of pathogenic bacteria are becoming resistant to multiple classes of antibiotics, thereby limiting treatment options. Hence, there is a renewed urgency for the discovery of new classes of antibiotics for the treatment of drug resistant bacterial infections. To accelerate the discovery of such potential antibacterial candidates from natural resources a new, fast and efficient technology is needed. The genomics of secondary metabolite biosynthesis recently evolved to the point where analysis of the genome of an organism can define its biosynthetic capabilities for secondary metabolites. A genome scanning technique that has been developed in our laboratories, and used with our DECIPHER ® technology to analyze the genomes of actinomycetes for their secondary metabolite biosynthetic genes, greatly reduces the amount of sequencing required to define this capability [1,2]. This approach not only ascertains the potential of a producing organism, but it provides a handle to detect, isolate and structurally define a specific metabolite. We have demonstrated this approach in the isolation and structural determination of an antifungal Genomic Analyses Lead to Novel Secondary MetabolitesPart 3
The novel microbial metabolite diazepinomicin/ECO-4601 (1) has a unique tricyclic dibenzodiazepinone core, which was unprecedented among microbial metabolites. Labeled feeding experiments indicated that the carbocyclic ring and the ring nitrogen of tryptophan could be incorporated via degradation to the 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid, forming ring A and the nonamide nitrogen of 1. Genomic analysis of the biosynthetic locus indicated that the farnesyl side chain was mevalonate derived, the 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid moiety could be formed directly from chorismate, and the third ring was constructed via 3-amino-5-hydroxybenzoic acid. Successful incorporation of 4,6-D2-3-hydroxyanthranilic acid into ring A of 1 via feeding experiments supports the genetic analysis and the allocation of the locus to this biosynthesis. These studies highlight the enzymatic complexity needed to produce this structural type, which is rare in nature.
Five ORFs were detected in a fragment from the Streptomyces venezuelae ISP5230 genomic DNA library by hybridization with a PCR product amplified from primers representing a consensus of known halogenase sequences. Sequencing and functional analyses demonstrated that ORFs 11 and 12 (but not ORFs 13-15) extended the partially characterized gene cluster for chloramphenicol (Cm) biosynthesis in the chromosome. Disruption of ORF11 (cmlK) or ORF12 (cmlS) and conjugal transfer of the insertionally inactivated genes to S. venezuelae gave mutant strains VS1111 and VS1112, each producing a similar series of Cm analogues in which unhalogenated acyl groups replaced the dichloroacetyl substituent of Cm. 1 H-NMR established that the principal metabolite in the disrupted strains was the a-N-propionyl analogue. The sequence of CmlK implicated the protein in adenylation, and involvement in halogenation was inferred from biosynthesis of analogues by the cmlK-disrupted mutant. A role in generating the dichloroacetyl substituent was supported by partial restoration of Cm biosynthesis when a cloned copy of cmlK was introduced in trans into VS1111. Complementation of the mutant also indicated that inactivation of cmlK rather than a polar effect of the disruption on cmlS expression had interfered with dichloroacetyl biosynthesis. The deduced CmlS sequence resembled sequences of FADH 2 -dependent halogenases. Conjugal transfer of cmlK or cmlS into S. venezuelae cml-2, a chlorination-deficient strain with a mutation mapped genetically to the Cm biosynthesis gene cluster, did not complement the cml-2 lesion, suggesting that one or more genes in addition to cmlK and cmlS is needed to assemble the dichloroacetyl substituent. Insertional inactivation of ORF13 did not affect Cm production, and the products of ORF14 and ORF15 matched Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) proteins lacking plausible functions in Cm biosynthesis. Thus cmlS appears to mark the downstream end of the gene cluster.
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