Enhancement of antibiotic production by co-cultivation of two antibiotic producing marine Vibrionaceae strains

Abstract

Deciphering the cues that stimulate microorganisms to produce their full secondary metabolic potential promises to speed up the discovery of novel drugs. Ecology-relevant conditions, including carbon-source(s) and microbial interactions, are important effectors of secondary metabolite production. Vice versa, secondary metabolites are important mediators in microbial interactions, although their exact natural functions are not always completely understood. In this study, we investigated the effects of microbial interactions and in-culture produced antibiotics on the production of secondary metabolites by Vibrio coralliilyticus and Photobacterium galatheae, two co-occurring marine Vibrionaceae. In co-culture, production of andrimid by V. coralliilyticus and holomycin by P. galatheae, were, compared to monocultures, increased 4.3 and 2.7 fold respectively. Co-cultures with the antibiotic deficient mutant strains (andrimid− and holomycin−) did not reveal a significant role for the competitor's antibiotic as stimulator of own secondary metabolite production. Furthermore, we observed that V. coralliilyticus detoxifies holomycin by sulphur-methylation. Results presented here indicate that ecological competition in Vibrionaceae is mediated by, and a cue for, antibiotic secondary metabolite production.

Holomycin, an Antibiotic Secondary Metabolite, Is Required for Biofilm Formation by the Native Producer Photobacterium galatheae S2753

“…In the complementation experiments, growth kinetics were tracked and holomycin or S,S-dimethyl-holomycin synthesized by method in Yannick et al (65) were added to the cultures at the exponential-stationary transition phase (17 h).…”

The ability of Phaeobacter inhibens to produce tropodithietic acid influences the community dynamics of a microalgal microbiome

“…Microbial secondary metabolites may play important ecological roles in microbial communities, ranging from all-out chemical conflict [ 1 ] to cooperation mediators [ 2 ]. Untangling the effect of secondary metabolites in natural microbial communities requires targeted manipulations, and consequently, interspecies interactions have often been explored in simple systems consisting of a few species [ 3 , 4 ]. The addition of more species may alter the outcomes considerably [ 5 ] and there is a need for microbial model systems with intermediate complexity to assess the ecological roles of microbial secondary metabolites [ 4 ].…”

Biological Dark Matter Exploration using Data Mining for the Discovery of Antimicrobial Natural Products

“…The simultaneous production of antimicrobials could play an ecological role to enhance the interspecies competition for acquiring nutrients. There is little information available about how the super-clusters are structured and even less information concerning their regulation and simultaneous production 60 , 61 . A first approximation revealed that superclusters act cooperatively with synergistic potential, but cases in the current literature are scarce 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 .…”

“…In the laboratory, production by P. galatheae of novel metabolites can be controlled by the addition of inducers, such as andrimid, to increase holomycin production, or trimethropin, to attenuate its production, indicating that activators or repressors can be a useful strategy in eliciting BGCs and facilitating natural product discovery (▶ Fig. 2) [61].…”