Taotao Zhang

Heterologous coexpression of Vitreoscilla hemoglobin and Bacillus megaterium glucanase in Streptomyces lydicus A02 enhanced its production of antifungal metabolites.

Streptomyces lydicus A02 is a novel producer of commercially important polyene macrocyclic antibiotic natamycin and a potential biocontrol agent to several plant fungal diseases, including wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. spp. To improve the natamycin production and the antifungal activity of S. lydicus A02, we coexpressed gene vgb encoding Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb) and bglC encoding Bacillus megaterium L103 glucanase, both under the control of the strong constitutive ermE* promoter, in S. lydicus A02. Our results showed that coexpressing VHb and glucanase improved cell growth, and the engineered strain produced 26.90% more biomass than the wild-type strain after 72h fermentation in YSG medium. In addition, coexpressing genes encoding VHb and glucanase led to increased natamycin production, higher endogenous chitinase activity and exogenous glucanase activity, as well as enhanced antifungal activity in the engineered S. lydicus AVG02 and AGV02, regardless of the position of the two genes on the plasmids. Compared with model strains, few reports have successfully coexpressed VHb and other foreign proteins in industrial strains. Our results illustrated an effective approach for improving antifungal activity in an industrial strain by the rational engineering of combined favorable factors.

Efficient transformation and expression of the glucanase gene from Bacillus megaterium in the biocontrol strain Streptomyces lydicus A02

Streptomyces have been used extensively as the biocontrol agents due to their ability to produce various antimicrobial compounds, such as antibiotics and hydrolytic enzymes. Streptomyces lydicus strain A02, which was isolated from the soil of suburban forest field in Beijing (China), is capable of producing natamycin and has proved to be a potential biocontrol agent to several plant fungal diseases, including wilts caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. spp. However, hydrolytic enzymes like glucanase have not been detected in S. lydicus A02 on CMC-Na plates by congo red staining. Glucanase, a pathogenesis-related (PR) protein, degrades fungal cell walls and has been widely used as antifungal agent in plant protection. Therefore, a recombinant S. lydicus expressing a glucanase gene, which was cloned from the biocontrol strain Bacillus megaterium L103 and driven by the Streptomyces erythraea ermE* promoter, was constructed in this study. The engineered S. lydicus AG02 shared a similar yield of natamycin with the wild-type A02 strain. Compared to the wild-type strain A02, the engineered S. lydicus AG02 had a remarkably higher glucanase activity, as well as antifungal activity to F. oxysporum f. sp. conglutinans, F. oxysporum f. sp. niveum and Rhizoctonia cerealis. This demonstrated the improved biocontrol effect of S. lydicus AG02 attributed to transforming the exogenous glucanase from B. megaterium, which acted synergistically with natamycin to increase the antifungal activity of the strain.

Comparative Genomic and Regulatory Analyses of Natamycin Production of Streptomyces lydicus A02

Streptomyces lydicus A02 is used by industry because it has a higher natamycin-producing capacity than the reference strain S. natalensis ATCC 27448. We sequenced the complete genome of A02 using next-generation sequencing platforms, and to achieve better sequence coverage and genome assembly, we utilized single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing. The assembled genome comprises a 9,307,519-bp linear chromosome with a GC content of 70.67%, and contained 8,888 predicted genes. Comparative genomics and natamycin biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) analysis showed that BGC are highly conserved among evolutionarily diverse strains, and they also shared closer genome evolution compared with other Streptomyces species. Forty gene clusters were predicted to involve in the secondary metabolism of A02, and it was richly displayed in two-component signal transduction systems (TCS) in the genome, indicating a complex regulatory systems and high diversity of metabolites. Disruption of the phoP gene of the phoR-phoP TCS and nsdA gene confirmed phosphate sensitivity and global negative regulation of natamycin production. The genome sequence and analyses presented in this study provide an important molecular basis for research on natamycin production in Streptomyces, which could facilitate rational genome modification to improve the industrial use of A02.

Efficient transformation and expression of Vitreoscilla haemoglobin in the biological control bacterium Collimonas pratensis ZL261

ABSTRACT Collimonas species are soil bacteria characterised by their ability to attach to and utilise fungi as a food source (mycophagy), as well as their chitin-degrading capacity (via chitinase production). These attributes, alongside volatile compounds, are thought to contribute to their function as fungal antagonists, including economically important plant pathogens. Despite this, studies have found no relationship between antifungal activity and chitinase production, or volatile compounds in Collimonas pratensis isolate ZL261, and there have been no studies on genetic control and regulatory biosynthesis of antifungal substances in Collimonas species. In this study, we showed that low concentrations of dissolved oxygen were unfavourable for growth and antifungal activity. We successfully introduced the gene vgb encoding Vitreoscilla haemoglobin (VHb) into isolate ZL261. The heterologous expression of VHb not only enhanced cell growth, but also improved antifungal activity against the brown rot fungus Monilinia fructicola under oxygen-restricted conditions; 18.6% of untreated peach fruits were infected (average lesion diameter: 9.2 mm), while only 10.8% of fruit treated with the transformed isolate, ZV261, were infected (average lesion diameter: 5.4 mm). These results suggest that the antagonism have been due to the secreted secondary metabolites, which are sensitive to the oxygen-restricted conditions.