Project description:Actinobacteria are a rich source of bioactive molecules, and genome sequencing has shown that the vast majority of their biosynthetic potential has yet to be explored. However, many of their biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) are poorly expressed in the laboratory, which prevents discovery of their cognate natural products. To exploit their full biosynthetic potential, better understanding of the signals that promote the expression of BGCs is needed. Here, we show that the human stress hormone epinephrine (adrenaline) elicits antibiotic production by Actinobacteria. Catechol was established as the likely eliciting moiety, since similar responses were seen for catechol and for the catechol-containing molecules dopamine and catechin but not for related molecules. Exploration of the catechol-responsive strain Streptomyces sp. MBT84 using mass spectral networking revealed elicitation of a BGC that produces the angucycline glycosides aquayamycin, urdamycinone B and galtamycin C. Heterologous expression of the catechol-cleaving enzymes catechol 1,2-dioxygenase or catechol 2,3 dioxygenase counteracted the eliciting effect of catechol. Thus, for the first time we show the activation of natural product biosynthesis by a human hormone, leading to the identification of the ubiquitous catechol moiety as elicitor of BGCs for siderophores and antibiotics.
Project description:Actinobacteria are a rich source of bioactive molecules, and genome sequencing has shown that the vast majority of their biosynthetic potential has yet to be explored. However, many of their biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) are poorly expressed in the laboratory, which prevents discovery of their cognate natural products. To exploit their full biosynthetic potential, better understanding of the signals that promote the expression of BGCs is needed. Here, we show that the human stress hormone epinephrine (adrenaline) elicits antibiotic production by Actinobacteria. Catechol was established as the likely eliciting moiety, since similar responses were seen for catechol and for the catechol-containing molecules dopamine and catechin but not for related molecules. Exploration of the catechol-responsive strain Streptomyces sp. MBT84 using mass spectral networking revealed elicitation of a BGC that produces the angucycline glycosides aquayamycin, urdamycinone B and galtamycin C. Heterologous expression of the catechol-cleaving enzymes catechol 1,2-dioxygenase or catechol 2,3 dioxygenase counteracted the eliciting effect of catechol. Thus, for the first time we show the activation of natural product biosynthesis by a human hormone, leading to the identification of the ubiquitous catechol moiety as elicitor of BGCs for siderophores and antibiotics.
Project description:S. pastorianus strains are hybrids of S. cerevisiae and S. eubayanus that have been domesticated for several centuries in lager-beer brewing environments. As sequences and structures of S. pastorianus genomes are being resolved, molecular mechanisms and evolutionary origin of several industrially relevant phenotypes remain unknown. This study investigates how maltotriose metabolism, a key feature in brewing, may have arisen in early S. eubayanus x S. cerevisiae hybrids. To address this question, we generated a near-complete genome assembly of Himalayan S. eubayanus strains of the Holarctic subclade. This group of strains have been proposed to be the origin of the S. eubayanus subgenome of current S. pastorianus strains. The Himalayan S. eubayanus genomes harbored several copies of an SeAGT1 -oligoglucoside transporter gene with high sequence identity to genes encountered in S. pastorianus. Although Himalayan S. eubayanus strains are unable to grown on maltose and maltotriose, their maltose-hydrolase and SeMALT1 and SeAGT1 maltose-transporter genes complemented the corresponding null mutants of S. cerevisiae. Expression, in a Himalayan S. eubayanus strain, of a functional S. cerevisiae maltose-metabolism regulator gene (MALx3) enabled growth on oligoglucosides. The hypothesis that the maltotriose-positive phenotype in S. pastorianus is a result of heterosis was experimentally tested by constructing a S. cerevisiae x S. eubayanus laboratory hybrid with a complement of maltose-metabolism genes that resembles that of current S. pastorianus strains. The ability of this hybrid to consume maltotriose in brewer's wort demonstrated regulatory cross talk between sub-genomes and thereby validated this hypothesis. These results provide experimental evidence of the evolutionary origin of an essential phenotype of lager-brewing strains and valuable knowledge for industrial exploitation of laboratory-made S. pastorianus-like hybrids.
Project description:We discovered the bacteria Streptomyces venezuelae can display a new form of growth termed exploration, and we used NGS to compare transcriptome profiles of cells demonstrating exploration versus static cells (not demonstrating exploration)