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A-factor and streptomycin biosynthesis inStreptomyces griseus

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Abstract

Accumulating data have shown that the metabolites with a γ-butyrolactone ring functions as an autoregulatory factor or a microbial hormone for the expression of various phenotypes not only in a variety ofStreptomyces spp. but also in the distantly related bacteria. A-factor, as a representative of this type of autoregulators, triggers streptomycin biosynthesis and cellular differentiation inStreptomyces griseus. A model for the A-factor regulatory cascade on the basis of recent work is as follows. At an early step in the A-factor regulatory relay, the positive A-factor signal is first received by an A-factor receptor protein that is comparable in every aspect to eukaryotic hormone receptors, and then, via one or more regulatory steps, transmitted to an A-factor-responsive protein that binds to the upstream activation sequence of thestrR gene, a regulatory gene in the streptomycin biosynthetic gene cluster. The StrR protein thus induced appears to activate the other streptomycin biosynthetic genes. This review summarizes the characteristics of A-factor as a microbial hormone and the A-factor regulatory relay leading to streptomycin production.

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  1. Department of Agricultural Chemistry, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, 113, Tokyo, Japan

    Sucharu Horinouchi & Teruhiko Beppu

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  1. Sucharu Horinouchi
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  2. Teruhiko Beppu
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Horinouchi, S., Beppu, T. A-factor and streptomycin biosynthesis inStreptomyces griseus . Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 64, 177–186 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00873026

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