Abstract
The bkdAB gene cluster, which encodes plausible E1 and E2 components of the branched-chain α-keto acid dehydrogenase (BCDH) complex, was isolated from Streptomyces virginiae in the vicinity of a regulatory island for virginiamycin production. Gene disruption of bkdA completely abolished the production of virginiamycin M (a polyketide-peptide antibiotic), while the production of virginiamycin S (a cyclodepsipeptide antibiotic) was unaffected. Complementation of the bkdA disruptant by genome-integration of intact bkdA completely restored the virginiamycin M production, indicating that the bkdAB cluster is essential for virginiamycin M biosynthesis, plausibly via the provision of isobutyryl-CoA as a primer unit. In contrast to a feature usually seen in the Streptomyces E1 component, namely, the separate encoding of the α and β subunits, S. virginiae bkdA seemed to encode the fused form of the α and β subunits, which was verified by the actual catalytic activity of the fused protein in vitro using recombinant BkdA overexpressed in Escherichia coli. Supply of an additional bkdA gene under the strong and constitutive promoter ermE* in the wild-type strain of S. virginiae resulted in enhanced production of virginiamycin M, suggesting that the supply of isobutyryl-CoA is one of the rate-limiting factors in the biosynthesis of virginiamycin M.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported in part by a scholarship from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan (to N.P.), and by a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (no. 18780244) from MEXT, a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (no. 15380063) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Bio Design program of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan, and Special Coordination Funds for Promoting Science and Technology from the JST-NRCT joint program of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) of Japan and the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT).
We thank S.K. Lee for his helpful assistance in constructing plasmids in this work.
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Pulsawat, N., Kitani, S., Kinoshita, H. et al. Identification of the bkdAB gene cluster, a plausible source of the starter-unit for virginiamycin M production in Streptomyces virginiae . Arch Microbiol 187, 459–466 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-007-0212-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-007-0212-2