Streptomyces coelicolor is the prototype for the investigation of antibiotic-producing and differentiating actinomycetes. As soil bacteria, streptomycetes can metabolize a wide variety of carbon sources and are hence vested with various specific permeases. Their activity and regulation substantially determine the nutritional state of the cell and, therefore, influence morphogenesis and antibiotic production. We have surveyed the genome of S. coelicolor A3(2) to provide a thorough description of the carbohydrate uptake systems. Among 81 ATP-binding cassette (ABC) permeases that are present in the genome, we found 45 to encode a putative solute binding protein, an essential feature for carbohydrate permease function. Similarity analysis allowed the prediction of putative ABC systems for transport of cellobiose and cellotriose, ␣-glucosides, lactose, maltose, maltodextrins, ribose, sugar alcohols, xylose, and -xylosides. A novel putative bifunctional protein composed of a substrate binding and a membrane-spanning moiety is likely to account for ribose or ribonucleoside uptake. Glucose may be incorporated by a proton-driven symporter of the major facilitator superfamily while a putative sodium-dependent permease of the solute-sodium symporter family may mediate uptake of galactose and a facilitator protein of the major intrinsic protein family may internalize glycerol. Of the predicted gene clusters, reverse transcriptase PCRs showed active gene expression in 8 of 11 systems. Together with the previously surveyed permeases of the phosphotransferase system that accounts for the uptake of fructose and N-acetylglucosamine, the genome of S. coelicolor encodes at least 53 potential carbohydrate uptake systems.Streptomycetes represent a major fraction of the bacterial soil population (20). They contribute substantially to carbon recycling by degrading a whole variety of biopolymers that stem from dead plant and animal material (16). These organic compounds, which include xylan, chitin, and cellulose, are broken down by exoenzymes. The products are funneled into the cell by specific carbohydrate importers that usually recognize mono-and disaccharides. The recent publication of the genome of the model organism Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) revealed two interesting features concerning carbon utilization (7), that is, (i) a huge number of 172 genes encoding secreted proteins, such as hydrolases, chitinases, cellulases, lipases, nucleases, and proteases, and (ii) the occurrence of 81 ATPbinding cassette (ABC) permeases that are possibly used for the uptake of sugars, oligopeptides, and nucleosides as well as for drug export (46, 56). The numerousness of exoenzymes and ABC systems is 5-to 10-fold higher than that of other bacteria, underlining the broad metabolic capacity of streptomycetes (7).Canonical carbohydrate-specific ABC systems in gram-positive bacteria are oligoprotein assemblies: a membrane-anchored substrate-binding protein is exposed to the outside of the cell, scavenging for a specific substrate molecule (10) (Fi...