A chromatogram-simplified Streptomyces albus host for heterologous production of natural products

• Published in: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Vol. 113; no. 4; pp. 511 - 520
• Main Authors: Fazal, Asif, Thankachan, Divya, Harris, Ellie, Seipke, Ryan F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.04.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Actinorhodin; Biological activity; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Chemical extracts; Cinnamycin; Cloning; Fungicides; Gene clusters; Gene expression; Life Sciences; Medical Microbiology; Microbiology; Microorganisms; Mutants; Natural products; Original Paper; Plant Sciences; Soil Science & Conservation; Streptomyces albus; Workflow; Natural products; Secondary metabolites; Heterologous expression; Streptomyces; Streptomyces albus
• ISSN: 0003-6072; 1572-9699
• DOI: 10.1007/s10482-019-01360-x

Cloning natural product biosynthetic gene clusters from cultured or uncultured sources and their subsequent expression by genetically tractable heterologous hosts is an essential strategy for the elucidation and characterisation of novel microbial natural products. The availability of suitable expression hosts is a critical aspect of this workflow. In this work, we mutagenised five endogenous biosynthetic gene clusters from Streptomyces albus S4, which reduced the complexity of chemical extracts generated from the strain and eliminated antifungal and antibacterial bioactivity. We showed that the resulting quintuple mutant can express foreign biosynthetic gene clusters by heterologously producing actinorhodin, cinnamycin and prunustatin. We envisage that our strain will be a useful addition to the growing suite of heterologous expression hosts available for exploring microbial secondary metabolism.