Lysobacter enzymogenes is a bacterial biological-control agent emerging as a new source of antibiotic metabolites, such as HSAF (Heat-Stable Antifungal Factor) and the antibacterial factor WAP-8294A2. The regulatory mechanism(s) for antibiotic-metabolite biosynthesis remains largely unknown in L. enzymogenes. Clp, a cAMP-receptor-like protein, is shown to function as a global regulator in modulating biocontol-associated traits in L. enzymogenes. However, the genetic basis of Clp signaling remains unclear. Here, we utilized transcriptome/microarray analysis to determine the Clp regulon in L. enzymogenes. We showed that Clp is a global regulator in gene expression, as the transcription of 775 genes belonging to 19 functional groups was differentially controlled by Clp signaling. Analysis of the Clp regulon detected previously characterized Clp-modulated functions as well as novel loci. These include novel loci involved in antibiotic-metabolite biosynthesis and surface motility in L. enzymogenes. We further showed experimentally that Clp signaling played a positive role in regulating the biosynthesis of HSAF and WAP-8294A2, as well as surface motility which is a Type-IV-pilus-dependent trait. The regulation by Clp signaling of antibiotic (HSAF and WAP-8294A2) biosynthesis and surface motility was found to be independent. Importantly, we identified a factor Lat (Lysobacter acetyltransferase), a homologue of histone acetyltransferase Hpa2, which was regulated by Clp and involved in HSAF biosynthesis, but not associated with WAP-8294A2 production and surface motility. Overall, our study provided new insights into the regulatory role and molecular mechanism of Clp signaling in L. enzymogenes.

Heat-stable antifungal factor (HSAF) produced by Lysobacter enzymogenes is a potential lead compound for developing new antibiotics. Yet, how L. enzymogenes regulates the HSAF biosynthesis remains largely unknown. Here, we show that 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4-HBA) serves as a diffusible factor for regulating HSAF biosynthesis. The biosynthesis of 4-HBA involved an oxygenase, LenB2, and mutation of lenB2 almost completely abolished 4-HBA production, leading to significantly impaired HSAF production. Introduction of a heterologous gene coding for 4-HBA biosynthetic enzyme into the lenB2 mutant restored the production of 4-HBA and HSAF to their corresponding wild-type levels. Exogenous addition of 0.5-1 μM 4-HBA was sufficient to restore HSAF production in the lenB2 mutant. Furthermore, the shikimate pathway was found to regulate the biosynthesis of HSAF via 4-HBA. Finally, we identified a LysR-family transcription factor (LysR ) with activity directed to HSAF production. LysR could bind to the HSAF promoter and, as a result, regulates expression of HSAF biosynthesis genes. The 4-HBA could bind to LysR and appeared to partly enhance formation of the LysR -DNA complex Collectively, our findings suggest that L. enzymogenes produces 4-HBA to serve as an adaptor molecule to link the shikimate pathway to the biosynthesis of a unique antifungal metabolite (HSAF).

Lysobacter enzymogenes is a ubiquitous soil gammaproteobacterium that produces a broad-spectrum antifungal antibiotic, known as heat-stable antifungal factor (HSAF). To increase HSAF production for use against fungal crop diseases, it is important to understand how HSAF synthesis is regulated. To gain insights into transcriptional regulation of the HSAF synthesis gene cluster, we generated a library with deletion mutations in the genes predicted to encode response regulators of the two-component signaling systems in L. enzymogenes strain OH11. By quantifying HSAF production levels in the 45 constructed mutants, we identified two strains that produced significantly smaller amounts of HSAF. One of the mutations affected a gene encoding a conserved bacterial response regulator, PilR, which is commonly associated with type IV pilus synthesis. We determined that L. enzymogenes PilR regulates pilus synthesis and twitching motility via a traditional pathway, by binding to the pilA promoter and upregulating pilA expression. Regulation of HSAF production by PilR was found to be independent of pilus formation. We discovered that the pilR mutant contained significantly higher intracellular levels of the second messenger cyclic di-GMP (c-di-GMP) and that this was the inhibitory signal for HSAF production. Therefore, the type IV pilus regulator PilR in L. enzymogenes activates twitching motility while downregulating antibiotic HSAF production by increasing intracellular c-di-GMP levels. This study identifies a new role of a common pilus regulator in proteobacteria and provides guidance for increasing antifungal antibiotic production in L. enzymogenes.

is a Gram-negative, environmentally ubiquitous bacterium that produces a secondary metabolite, called heat-stable antifungal factor (HSAF), as an antifungal factor against plant and animal fungal pathogens. 4-Hydroxybenzoic acid (4-HBA) is a newly identified diffusible factor that regulates HSAF synthesis via LysR (LysR), an LysR-type transcription factor (TF). Here, to identify additional TFs within the 4-HBA regulatory pathway that control HSAF production, we reanalyzed the LenB2-based transcriptomic data, in which LenB2 is the enzyme responsible for 4-HBA production. This survey led to identification of three TFs (Le4806, Le4969, and Le3904). Of them, LarR (Le4806), a member of the MarR family proteins, was identified as a new TF that participated in the 4-HBA-dependent regulation of HSAF production. Our data show the following: (i) that LarR is a downstream component of the 4-HBA regulatory pathway controlling the HSAF level, while LysR is the receptor of 4-HBA; (ii) that 4-HBA and LysR have opposite regulatory effects on transcription whereby transcript is negatively modulated by 4-HBA while LysR, in contrast, exerts positive transcriptional regulation by directly binding to the promoter without being affected by 4-HBA; (iii) that LarR, similar to LysR, can bind to the promoter of the HSAF biosynthetic gene operon, leading to positive regulation of HSAF production; and (iv) that LarR and LysR cannot interact and instead control HSAF biosynthesis independently. These results outline a previously uncharacterized mechanism by which biosynthesis of the antibiotic HSAF in is modulated by the interplay of 4-HBA, a diffusible molecule, and two different TFs. Bacteria use diverse chemical signaling molecules to regulate a wide range of physiological and cellular processes. 4-HBA is an "old" chemical molecule that is produced by diverse bacterial species, but its regulatory function and working mechanism remain largely unknown. We previously found that 4-HBA in could serve as a diffusible factor regulating HSAF synthesis via LysR Here, we further identified LarR, an MarR family protein, as a second TF that participates in the 4-HBA-dependent regulation of HSAF biosynthesis. Our results dissected how LarR acts as a protein linker to connect 4-HBA and HSAF synthesis, whereby LarR also has cross talk with LysR Thus, our findings not only provide fundamental insight regarding how a diffusible molecule (4-HBA) adopts two different types of TFs for coordinating HSAF biosynthesis but also show the use of applied microbiology to increase the yield of the antibiotic HSAF by modification of the 4-HBA regulatory pathway in .