SummaryPristinamycin, produced by Streptomyces pristinaespiralis Pr11, is a streptogramin antibiotic consisting of two chemically unrelated compounds, pristinamycin I and pristinamycin II. The semi‐synthetic derivatives of these compounds are used in human medicine as therapeutic agents against methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains. Only the partial sequence of the pristinamycin biosynthetic gene cluster has been previously reported. To complete the sequence, overlapping cosmids were isolated from a S. pristinaespiralis Pr11 gene library and sequenced. The boundaries of the cluster were deduced, limiting the cluster size to approximately 210 kb. In the central region of the cluster, previously unknown pristinamycin biosynthetic genes were identified. Combining the current and previously identified sequence information, we propose that all essential pristinamycin biosynthetic genes are included in the 210 kb region. A pristinamycin biosynthetic pathway was established. Furthermore, the pristinamycin gene cluster was found to be interspersed by a cryptic secondary metabolite cluster, which probably codes for a glycosylated aromatic polyketide. Gene inactivation experiments revealed that this cluster has no influence on pristinamycin production. Overall, this work provides new insights into pristinamycin biosynthesis and the unique genetic organization of the pristinamycin gene region, which is the largest antibiotic ‘supercluster’ known so far.

Pristinamycin production in Streptomyces pristinaespiralis Pr11 is tightly regulated by an interplay between different repressors and activators. A ␥-butyrolactone receptor gene (spbR), two TetR repressor genes (papR3 and papR5), three SARP (Streptomyces antibiotic regulatory protein) genes (papR1, papR2, and papR4), and a response regulator gene (papR6) are carried on the large 210-kb pristinamycin biosynthetic gene region of Streptomyces pristinaespiralis Pr11. A detailed investigation of all pristinamycin regulators revealed insight into a complex signaling cascade, which is responsible for the fine-tuned regulation of pristinamycin production in S. pristinaespiralis. Streptomycetes are filamentous, Gram-positive soil bacteria that are well known for their ability to produce varieties of bioactive secondary metabolites, including more than 70% of the commercially important antibiotics (1). The production of antibiotics is controlled by a vast array of physiological and nutritional conditions, communicated by extracellular and intracellular signaling molecules (2). The beginning of antibiotic biosynthesis is often coordinated with processes of morphological differentiation. The characteristic Streptomyces life cycle involves the formation of a feeding substrate mycelium and subsequent development of aerial hyphae, which finally septate into spores (3). Generally, antibiotic production begins as the culture enters stationary growth in liquid culture and coincidences with the onset of morphological differentiation in agar-grown cultures (reviewed in reference 4). In many Streptomyces strains, antibiotic production is regulated by low-molecular-weight compounds, called ␥-butyrolactone autoregulators (GBLs) (5, 6). GBLs are small diffusible signaling molecules that are synthesized and gradually accumulated in a growth-dependent manner, at or near the middle of the exponential phase of Streptomyces growth, when they trigger the onset of antibiotic biosynthesis and/or morphological differentiation at nanomolar concentrations (7). Often, the GBL signal is transmitted via a hierarchical signaling cascade including pleiotropic and pathway-specific regulators, which all together control the antibiotic production: when the GBL concentration reaches a critical level, the signal is transmitted into the cells by binding to specific cytoplasmic receptor proteins, the GBL receptors (7). GBL receptors belong to the TetR family of transcriptional regulators (8). In the absence of the corresponding ligand, the GBL receptor binds to conserved AT-rich, partially palindromic sequences (9), the so-called "ARE" sequences (autoregulatory element) (10), within the promoter regions of its target genes and thereby represses the transcription of these genes. By binding of the GBLs to their receptors, the latter undergo a conformational change and dissociate from the target DNA, allowing expression of the derepressed genes (11). Predominantly, targets of GBL receptors are transcriptional regulatory genes, such as TetR and SARP (Streptomyce...

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Phosphinothricin tripeptide (PTT) is a peptide antibiotic produced by Streptomyces viridochromogenes Tü494, and it is synthesized by nonribosomal peptide synthetases. The PTT biosynthetic gene cluster contains three peptide synthetase genes: phsA, phsB, and phsC. Each of these peptide synthetases comprises only one module. In neither PhsB nor PhsC is a typical C-terminal thioesterase domain present. In contrast, a single thioesterase GXSXG motif has been identified in the N terminus of the first peptide synthetase, PhsA. In addition, two external thioesterase genes, theA and theB, are located within the PTT biosynthetic gene cluster. To analyze the thioesterase function as well as the assembly of the peptide synthetases within PTT biosynthesis, several mutants were generated and analyzed. A phsA deletion mutant (MphsA) was complemented with two different phsA constructs that were carrying mutations in the thioesterase motif. In one construct, the thioesterase motif comprising 45 amino acids of phsA were deleted. In the second construct, the conserved serine residue of the GXSXG motif was replaced by an alanine. In both cases, the complementation of MphsA did not restore PTT biosynthesis, revealing that the thioesterase motif in the N terminus of PhsA is required for PTT production. In contrast, TheA and TheB might have editing functions, as an interruption of the theA and theB genes led to reduced PTT production, whereas an overexpression of both genes in the wild type enhanced the PTT yield. The presence of an active single thioesterase motif in the N terminus of PhsA points to a novel mechanism of product release.

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