Draft Genome Sequence of Marine Actinomycete Streptomyces sp. Strain NTK 937, Producer of the Benzoxazole Antibiotic Caboxamycin

Dark, rare and inspirational microbial matter in the extremobiosphere: 16 000 m of bioprospecting campaigns

The rationale of our bioprospecting campaigns is that the extremobiosphere, particularly the deep sea and hyper-arid deserts, harbours undiscovered biodiversity that is likely to express novel chemistry and biocatalysts thereby providing opportunities for therapeutic drug and industrial process development. We have focused on actinobacteria because of their frequent role as keystone species in soil ecosystems and their unrivalled track record as a source of bioactive compounds. Population numbers and diversity of actinobacteria in the extremobiosphere are traditionally considered to be low, although they often comprise the dominant bacterial biota. Recent metagenomic evaluation of 'the uncultured microbial majority' has now revealed enormous taxonomic diversity among 'dark' and 'rare' actinobacteria in samples as diverse as sediments from the depths of the Mariana Trench and soils from the heights of the Central Andes. The application of innovative culture and screening options that emphasize rigorous dereplication at each stage of the analysis, and strain prioritization to identify 'gifted' organisms, have been deployed to detect and characterize bioactive hit compounds and sought-after catalysts from this hitherto untapped resource. The rewards include first-in-a-class chemical entities with novel modes of action, as well as a growing microbial seed bank that represents a potentially enormous source of biotechnological and therapeutic innovation.

Exploring the biocombinatorial potential of benzoxazoles: generation of novel caboxamycin derivatives

Background

The biosynthesis pathway of benzoxazole compounds caboxamycin and nataxazole have been recently elucidated. Both compounds share one of their precursors, 3-hydroxyanthranilate (two units in the case of nataxazole). In addition, caboxamycin structure includes a salicylate moiety while 6-methylsalycilate is the third scaffold in nataxazole. Pathways cross-talk has been identified in caboxamycin producer Streptomyces sp. NTK937, between caboxamycin and enterobactin pathways, and nataxazole producer Streptomyces sp. Tü6176, between nataxazole and coelibactin pathways. These events represent a natural form of combinatorial biosynthesis.

Results

Eleven novel caboxamycin derivatives, and five putative novel derivatives, bearing distinct substitutions in the aryl ring have been generated. These compounds were produced by heterologous expression of several caboxamycin biosynthesis genes in Streptomyces albus J1074 (two compounds), by combinatorial biosynthesis in Streptomyces sp. NTK937 expressing nataxazole iterative polyketide synthase (two compounds) and by mutasynthesis using a nonproducing mutant of Streptomyces sp. NTK937 (12 compounds). Some of the compounds showed improved bioactive properties in comparison with caboxamycin.

Conclusions

In addition to the benzoxazoles naturally biosynthesized by the caboxamycin and nataxazole producers, a greater structural diversity can be generated by mutasynthesis and heterologous expression of benzoxazole biosynthesis genes, not only in the respective producer strains but also in non-benzoxazole producers such as S. albus strains. These results show that the production of a wide variety of benzoxazoles could be potentially achieved by the sole expression of cbxBCDE genes (or orthologs thereof), supplying an external source of salicylate-like compounds, or with the concomitant expression of other genes capable of synthesizing salicylates, such as cbxA or natPK.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12934-017-0709-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Caboxamycin biosynthesis pathway and identification of novel benzoxazoles produced by cross-talk in Streptomyces sp. NTK 937

Streptomyces sp. NTK937, producer of benzoxazole antibiotic caboxamycin, produces in addition a methyl ester derivative, O‐methylcaboxamycin. Caboxamycin cluster, comprising one regulatory and nine structural genes, has been delimited, and each gene has been individually inactivated to demonstrate its role in the biosynthetic process. The O‐methyltransferase potentially responsible for O‐methylcaboxamycin synthesis would reside outside this cluster. Five of the genes, cbxR, cbxA, cbxB, cbxD and cbxE, encoding a SARP transcriptional regulator, salicylate synthase, 3‐oxoacyl‐ACP‐synthase, ACP and amidohydrolase, respectively, have been found to be essential for caboxamycin biosynthesis. The remaining five structural genes were found to have paralogues distributed throughout the genome, capable of partaking in the process when their cluster homologue is inactivated. Two of such paralogues, cbxC’ and cbxI’, coding an AMP‐dependent synthetase‐ligase and an anthranilate synthase, respectively, have been identified. However, the other three genes might simultaneously have more than one paralogue, given that cbxF (DAHP synthase), cbxG (2,3‐dihydro‐2,3‐dihydroxybenzoate dehydrogenase) and cbxH (isochorismatase) have three, three and five putative paralogue genes, respectively, of similar function within the genome. As a result of genetic manipulation, a novel benzoxazole (3′‐hydroxycaboxamycin) has been identified in the salicylate synthase‐deficient mutant strain ΔcbxA. 3′‐hydroxycaboxamycin derives from the cross‐talk between the caboxamycin and enterobactin pathways.

Genome Mining of Streptomyces sp. Tü 6176: Characterization of the Nataxazole Biosynthesis Pathway

Streptomyces sp. Tü 6176 produces the cytotoxic benzoxazole nataxazole. Bioinformatic analysis of the genome of this organism predicts the presence of 38 putative secondary-metabolite biosynthesis gene clusters, including those involved in the biosynthesis of AJI9561 and its derivative nataxazole, the antibiotic hygromycin B, and ionophores enterobactin and coelibactin. The nataxazole biosynthesis gene cluster was identified and characterized: it lacks the O-methyltransferase gene required to convert AJI9561 into nataxazole. This O-methyltransferase activity might act as a resistance mechanism, as AJI9561 shows antibiotic activity whereas nataxazole is inactive. Moreover, heterologous expression of the nataxazole biosynthesis gene cluster in S. lividans JT46 resulted in the production of AJI9561. Nataxazole biosynthesis requires the shikimate pathway to generate 3-hydroxyanthranilate and an iterative type I PKS to generate 6-methylsalicylate. Production of nataxazole was improved up to fourfold by disrupting one regulatory gene in the cluster. An additional benzoxazole, 5-hydroxynataxazole is produced by Streptomyces sp. Tü 6176. 5-Hydroxynataxazole derives from nataxazole by the activity of an as yet unidentified oxygenase; this implies cross-talk between the nataxazole biosynthesis pathway and an unknown pathway.