The oxidoreductases LivQ and NeoQ are responsible for the different 6'-modifications in the aminoglycosides lividomycin and neomycin.

AIMS: The 2-deoxystreptamine-containing aminoglycoside antibiotics (AGAs) constitute the largest subgroup of the aminoglycosides. Neomycin (NEO) and lividomycin (LIV) are both representatives of the pseudo-tetrasaccharide group among the NEO-type AGAs. While NEO contains a 6'-NH(2) group, the 6'-position remains unmodified in LIV. The aim of the study was to characterize the substrate specificities of the enzymes involved in the C-6'- and C-6‴-modification in order to explain the different amination patterns. METHODS AND RESULTS: We overproduced and purified the enzymes NeoQ (bifunctional 6'- and 6‴-oxidoreductase) and NeoB (bifunctional 6'- and-6‴-aminotransferase), which had been analysed before (Huang et al. 2007), and compared the enzymatic properties with the corresponding enzymes LivQ (postulated 6‴-oxidoreductase, 72% identity to NeoQ) and LivB (postulated 6‴-aminotransferase, 71% identity to NeoB) from the LIV pathway. By applying a newly established photometric assay, we proved that LivQ oxidized only pseudotetrasaccharidic substrates at the 6‴-position. In contrast, NeoQ accepted also the pseudodisaccharidic paromamine as a substrate and oxidized the 6'- and 6‴-positions on two different precursors of NEO. The aminotransferases LivB and NeoB both transfer NH(2) groups to the 6'-position in the precursor 6'-oxo-paromamine and to the 6‴-position of 6‴-oxo-neomycin C. CONCLUSIONS: The difference in the modification pattern of NEO and LIV at their 6'-positions is based only on the difference in the substrate specificities of the oxidoreductases LivQ and NeoQ, respectively. The aminotransferases LivB and NeoB share identical biochemical properties, and both are capable to transaminate the 6' and also the 6‴-position of the tested AGAs. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Our data provide information to understand the structural variations in aminoglycosides and may be helpful to interpret variations in other natural product bisoynthesis pathways.

Analysis and regulation of the secY gene(1) from Streptomyces griseus N2-3-11 and interaction of the SecY protein with the SecA protein.

The chromosomal region encoding the secY gene of Streptomyces griseus N2-3-11 was cloned and analyzed. The secY gene encodes a polypeptide of 438 aa with a molecular mass of 47.5 kDa. The transcriptional start point of the secY gene was determined. Northern blot analysis revealed a growth phase-dependent secY expression supporting our previous findings for secA gene expression in S. griseus. Overproduction of the SecY protein was obtained when using Streptomyces lividans TK23 as host. The interaction of the SecY proteins of S. griseus, S. lividans, and Escherichia coli, respectively, with the purified SecA protein of S. griseus was demonstrated for the first time by using ligand affinity blot assays.

Characterisation of aminoglycoside acetyltransferase-encoding genes of neomycin-producing Micromonospora chalcea and Streptomyces fradiae.

Two genes (aac) encoding aminoglycoside-N-acetyltransferase from Streptomyces fradiae and Micromonospora chalcea were cloned: the former identified by hybridization with a homologous gene from Streptomyces rimosus forma paromomycinus, the second by direct expression in Streptomyces lividans using pIJ702 as a vector. These two genes showed pronounced nucleotide and amino acid sequence similarities between themselves and also between previously described streptomycetes aac genes. Comparison of the flanking sequence of actinomycetes aac genes indicates considerable divergence, contrary to the notion that clustered biosynthetic genes for structurally related antibiotics were disseminated in their entirety between microbial species.

Streptomycin biosynthesis and its regulation in Streptomycetes.

New insights into the gene orders, structures, evolution, and functions of streptomycin (Sm) biosynthetic genes (str) were gained via hybridization studies, determination of nucleotide sequences, and measurement of expression in the str gene clusters of Streptomyces griseus and S. glaucescens. Both str clusters showed considerable divergence in macro and micro structure. Genes putatively involved in pathways leading to the (dihydro-)streptose and N-methyl-L-glucosamine moieties of Sm were identified. Additional regulatory elements, such as gene strS and conserved TTA codons in the N-terminal sections of reading frames, are reported. Evidences for the involvement of physiological state, signal transduction, and activators in the control of Sm production are presented.

Purification and characterization of a plasmid-encoded aminoglycoside-(3)-N-acetyltransferase IV from Escherichia coli.

Plasmid-encoded aminoglycoside-(3)-N-acetyltransferase IV, AAC(3)-IV, was purified to homogeneity by affinity chromatography from E. coli. The enzyme was shown to consist of a monomer, with the apparent Mr being in agreement with that calculated from the nucleotide sequence of the aacC4 gene (Mr 28 500). Determination of the sequence of the N-terminal 6 amino acids revealed that processing did not occur, indicating the cytoplasmic localization of the AAC(3)-IV enzyme. A correlation of antibiotic resistance with Km values of the purified enzyme for a corresponding set of aminoglycoside substrates is discussed with respect to the mechanism of resistance in vivo.

Gene probes for the detection of 6-deoxyhexose metabolism in secondary metabolite-producing streptomycetes.

DNA probes were designed from the streptomycin production genes strDELM of Streptomyces griseus involved in the biosynthesis of the 6-deoxyhexose (6DOH) dihydrostreptose which could detect the genomic fragments coding for 6DOH formation in other actinomycetes strains. In about 70% of the 43 strains tested at least one signal could be detected with strD-, strE- or strLM-specific probes. Evidence is presented that the hybridizing genes are mostly clustered and probably engaged in the formation of secondary metabolites. Because of the wide-spread use of 6DOH constituents in natural products these probes should allow to detect a vast array of different secondary metabolic gene clusters in actinomycetes.

Protein secretion in Streptomyces griseus N2-3-11: characterization of the secA gene and its growth phase-dependent expression.

The chromosomal region encoding the secA gene of Streptomyces griseus N2-3-11 was cloned and analyzed. The secA gene encodes a polypeptide of 939 aa with a molecular mass of 105 kDa. The growth defect of temperature sensitive Escherichia coli secA mutants was not restored by the S. griseus SecA. The secA promoter was analyzed and the transcriptional start point of the gene was determined. Northern blot and Western blot analyses revealed a growth phase dependent secA expression. The integration of an additional copy of the S. griseus secA gene into the genome of S. lividans TK23 had no visible effect on the efficiency of protein secretion.

Application of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) assays in identifying conserved regions of actinomycete genomes.

Various arbitrary primers as well as pUC18/19 'reverse' sequencing primers were used for random amplified polymorphic DNA assays. Use of a modified reverse primer led to amplification of one major approx. 1100-bp band from the chromosomal DNA of all actinomycetes tested; however, the band was not found when DNAs from other bacteria were used in comparable experiments. Hybridization experiments showed that these bands all contained similar genomic regions. Subsequent sequencing of four of these fragments showed they each contained the sequence of the 3' end of the 23S rRNA gene, the intergenic region and the start of the 5S rRNA gene.

Synthesis of the milk oligosaccharide 2'-fucosyllactose using recombinant bacterial enzymes.

The enzymatic synthesis of GDP-beta-L-fucose and its enzymatic transfer reaction using recombinant enzymes from bacterial sources was examined. The GDP-D-mannose 4,6-dehydratase and the GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose 3,5-epimerase-4-reductase from Escherichia coli K-12, respectively, were used to catalyse the conversion of GDP-alpha-D-mannose to GDP-beta-L-fucose with 78% yield. For the transfer of the L-fucose to an acceptor, we cloned and overproduced the alpha-(1-->2)-fucosyltransferase (FucT2) protein from Helicobacter pylori. We were able to synthesise 2'-fucosyllactose using the overproduced FucT2 enzyme, enzymatically synthesised GDP-L-fucose and lactose. The isolation of 2'-fucosyllactose was accomplished by anion-exchange chromatography and gel filtration to give 65% yield.

High frequency transduction of R-factor encoded gentamicin resistance by bacteriophage P1Cm.

No transposition of plasmid-coded gentamicin resistance from more than fifty different R-plasmids onto a deletion derivative of bacteriophage lambda was found. In contrast, 13 out of 17 R-plasmids gave rise to the formation of high frequency transducing (hft) hybrids of phage P1Cm. All the hft P1Cm derivatives transduced other antibiotic resistances in addition to gentamicin resistance. The DNA sequences found to be integrated in the prophage genomes of hft phages were generally longer than 15 kb, and ranged up to 60 kb. In most cases analyzed the points of insertions were close to the IS1 elements resident in P1Cm. In part of the hybrid phages the entire R-plasmids were cointegrated. One plasmid (pWP14a) cointegrated preferentially into a Bg1II fragment of P1Cm containing an invertible structure (C-loop). Eleven out of 16 R-plasmids showed homology to IS1.

[Nucleotide sequence of a mutant allele and wild type allele SUP1 and comparison of transcripts of SUP1 and SUP2 genes]. / Nukleotidnaia posledovatel'nost' mutantnoi alleli i alleli dikogo tipa SUP1 i sravnenie transkriptov genov SUP1 i SUP2.

Nucleotide sequences of the yeast recessive suppressor gene SUP1 and one of its mutant alleles (supl-ts36) are compared. One open reading frame is found in the gene able to code 438 amino acid residues. The reading frame is not interrupted by introns. Mutant allele supl-ts36 contains one nucleotide change at position + 101 (T----C) inducing the exchange of leucine on serine in N-terminal part of the polypeptide product. The homology between the structure of SUP1 gene and two groups of proteins is found (1.tRNA-binding or nucleotide-binding proteins; 2. mitochondrial proteins coded by mitochondrial genome). The size of transcript for SUP1 gene is 1600 nucleotides corresponding to the coding region of the gene. For SUP2 gene two stable transcripts are found corresponding to approximately 2500 and approximately 1400 nucleotides. The homology between SUP1 and SUP2 genes is not found. The absence of splicing for both SUP1 and SUP2 genes transcripts is demonstrated in the experiments with RNA2 conditional mutants with impaired splicing.

Pathway engineering in secondary metabolite-producing actinomycetes.

Actinomycetes represent the microbial group richest in production of variable secondary metabolites. These mostly bioactive molecules are the end products of complex multistep biosynthetic pathways. Recent progress in the molecular genetics and biochemistry of the biosynthetic capacities of actinomycetes enables first attempts to redesign these pathways in a directed fashion. However, in contrast to several examples of designed biochemical improvement of primary metabolic processes in microorganisms, none of the products or strains derived from pathway engineering in actinomycetes discussed herein have reached pilot or production scale. The main reasons for this slow progress are the complicated pathways themselves, their complex regulation during the actinomycete cell cycle, and their uniqueness, as most pathways and products are specific for a strain rather than for a given species or larger taxonomic group. However, the modular use of a minimum of very similar enzymes and their conversion of similar intermediates to form the building blocks for the production of a maximum of divergent end products gives hope for the future application of these genetic models for the redesign of complex pathways for modified or new natural products. Several strategies that can be followed to reach this aim are discussed, mainly for the variable 6-deoxyhexose metabolism as an ubiquitously applicable example.

Binding of cycloheximide to ribosomes from wild-type and mutant strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Cycloheximide bound to cytoplasmic (80S) ribosomes of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae with an association constant (Ka) of 2.0 (+/- 0.5) x 10(7) M-1. The number of binding sites found per ribosome was between 0.4 and 0.6; it was reduced by high-salt treatment of ribosomes 60S particles prepared in the presence of high salt had a lower affinity (Ka: 5.5 [+/- 0.5] x 10(6) M-1) than did 80S ribosomes, but a greater proportion of particles (0.8) were able to bind. No specific binding to 40S subunits was observed. The addition of supernatant fractions (S100, high-salt wash fraction) increased the number of binding sites found per 80S ribosome up to 0.8, leaving the association constant unchanged. In contrast, the affinity of 60S subunits was enhanced to a Ka value of 3.5 x 10(-7) M-1 by the addition of supernatant fractions, whereas the number of binding sites stayed constant. A model to explain these facts is proposed. 80S ribosomes, as well as 60S subunits of strain cy32, which is highly resistant to cycloheximide and altered in ribosomal protein L29 (18), showed a drastically reduced affinity for the drug (Ka values of 2.0 x 10(6) M-1).

Genetics of streptomycin production in Streptomyces griseus: nucleotide sequence of five genes, strFGHIK, including a phosphatase gene.

The cluster of streptomycin (SM) production genes in Streptomyces griseus was further analysed by determining the nucleotide sequence of genes strFGHIK. The products of the strF and/or strG genes may be involved in the formation of N-methyl-L-glucosamine, and that of the strH gene in the first glycosylation step condensing streptidine-6-phosphate and dihydrostreptose. The putative StrI protein showed strong similarity to the amino-terminal NAD(P)-binding sites of many dehydrogenases, especially of the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenases. The product of the strK gene strongly resembles the alkaline phosphatase of Escherichia coli. It was shown that S. griseus excretes an enzyme that specifically cleaves both SM-6-phosphate and--more slowly--SM-3''-phosphate ate during the production phase for SM. The identity of this enzyme with the StrK protein was demonstrated by expression of the strK gene in Streptomyces lividans 66. Further evidence for an involvement of these genes in SM biosynthesis came from the fact that genes homologous to them were found in the equivalent gene cluster of the hydroxy-SM producer Streptomyces glaucescens; these, however, were in part differently organized. The ca. 5 kb DNA segment downstream of strI in S. griseus which contains the strK gene was found to be located in inverse orientation between the homologues of the aphD and strR genes in S. glaucescens.

Yeast omnipotent supressor SUP1 (SUP45): nucleotide sequence of the wildtype and a mutant gene.

The primary structures of the yeast recessive omnipotent suppressor gene SUP1 (SUP45) and one of its mutant alleles (sup1-ts36) was determined. The gene codes for a protein of 49 kD. The mutant protein differs from the wildtype form in one amino acid residue (Ser instead of Leu) in the N-terminal part. The codon usage differs significantly from that of yeast ribosomal protein genes. However, an upstream element resembling a conserved oligonucleotide in the region 5' to ribosomal protein genes in S. cerevisiae has been found. A DNA probe internal to the SUP1 gene does not exhibit detectable homology to genomic DNA neither from higher eucaryotes nor from eu- or archaebacteria. The hypothetical function of this protein in control of translational fidelity is discussed.

Expression and identification of the RfbE protein from Vibrio cholerae O1 and its use for the enzymatic synthesis of GDP-D-perosamine.

The 4-amino-6-deoxy-monosaccharide D-perosamine is an important element in the glycosylation of interesting cell products, such as antibiotics and lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The biosynthetic pathway of the precursor molecule, GDP-D-perosamine, in Vibrio cholerae O1 starts with an isomerisation of fructose-6-phosphate catalyzed by the bifunctional enzyme phosphomannose isomerase-guanosine diphosphomannose pyrophosphorylase (RfbA; E.C. 2.7.7.22) creating the intermediate mannose-6-phosphate, which is subsequently converted by the phosphomanno-mutase (RfbB; E.C. 5.4.2.8) and further by RfbA to GDP-D-mannose, to GDP-4 keto-6-deoxymannose by a 4,6-dehydratase (RfbD; E.C. 4.2.1.47) and finally to GDP-D-perosamine by an aminotransferase (RfbE; E.C. not yet classified). We cloned the rfbD and the rfbE genes of V. cholerae O1 in Escherichia coli expression vectors. Both biosynthetic enzymes were overproduced in E. coli BL21 (DE3) and their activities were analyzed. The enzymatic conversion from GDP-D-mannose to GDP-D-perosamine was optimized and the final product, GDP-D-perosamine, was purified and identified by nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry, and chromatography. The catalytically active form of the GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose-4-aminotransferase seems to be a tetramer of 170 kDa. The His-tag RfbE fusion protein has a Km of 0.06 mM and a Vmax value of 38 nkat/mg protein for the substrate GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose. The Km and Vmax values for the cosubstrate L-glutamate were 0.1 mM and 42 nkat/mg protein, respectively. The intention of this work is to establish a basis for both the in vitro production of GDP-D-perosamine and for an in vivo perosaminylation system in a suitable bacterial host, preferably E. coli.

Cointegrational transduction and mobilization of gentamicin resistance plasmid pWP14a is mediated by IS140.

The structures of two R-plasmids pWP14a and pWP12a (Tra-, Ap, Gm; 21 kb) and of several cointegrates they form with bacteriophages P1Cm and P1-15 were analyzed. In each case, replicon fusion was mediated by the element IS140 (about 0.8 kb), one copy of which resides on both plasmids adjacent to the gentamicin resistance determinant (AAC(3)-III). pWP14a cointegrated preferentially into or near the invertible C-loop structure of the P1 genome. Cointegrational mobilization of pWP14a was observed also with several conjugative R-factors. The process of replicon fusion is independent of the host's rec+ functions. Sequences homologous to IS140 are constituents of many R-factors, including RA1, R40a, R124, R144, Rts1, N3, and pJR255. IS140 also shows homology to two other sequences, IS15 delta and Tn2680, but not to other, well studied transposable elements. The ampicillin resistance determinant of pWP14a is within a Tn3-like transposon, Tn3651.