Correlation between carbon flux through the pentose phosphate pathway and production of the antibiotic methylenomycin in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2).

Radiorespirometry was employed to study carbon metabolism during the growth of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) in a minimal medium which permitted the production of methylenomycin as the sole detectable secondary metabolite. A switch in the pattern of carbon metabolism from the Embden-Myerhof-Parnas pathway to the pentose phosphate pathway occurred during the period of slower growth in batch culture which immediately preceded entry into the stationary phase. This coincided with the period of methylenomycin production. It is proposed that the biosynthesis of methylenomycin is supported by the generation of NADPH during the latter part of growth.