Archangium gephyra
KYC5002 produces tubulysins during the death phase. In this study, we aimed to determine whether dead cells produce tubulysins. Cells were cultured for three days until the verge ...of the death phase, disrupted via ultrasonication, incubated for 2 h, and examined for tubulysin production. Non-disrupted cells produced 0.14 mg/L of tubulysin A and 0.11 mg/L of tubulysin B. Notably, tubulysin A production was increased by 4.4-fold to 0.62 mg/L and that of tubulysin B was increased by 6.7-fold to 0.74 mg/L in the disrupted cells. The same increase in tubulysin production was observed when the cells were killed by adding hydrogen peroxide. However, when the enzymes were inactivated via heat treatment of the cultures at 65 °C for 30 min, no significant increase in tubulysin production due to cell death was observed. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis of
tubB
mRNA revealed that the expression levels of tubulysin biosynthetic enzyme genes increased during the death phase compared to those during the vegetative growth phase. Our findings suggest that
A. gephyra
produces biosynthetic enzymes and subsequently uses them for tubulysin production in the cell death phase or during cell lysis by predators.
Tubulysins are bioactive secondary metabolites produced by myxobacteria that promote microtubule disassembly. Microtubules are required for protozoa such as
Tetrahymena
to form cilia and flagella. To ...study the role of tubulysins in myxobacteria, we co-cultured myxobacteria and
Tetrahymena
. When 4000
Tetrahymena thermophila
and 5.0 × 10
8
myxobacteria were added to 1 ml of CYSE medium and co-cultured for 48 h, the population of
T. thermophila
increased to more than 75,000. However, co-culturing tubulysin-producing myxobacteria, including
Archangium gephyra
KYC5002, with
T. thermophila
caused the population of
T. thermophila
to decrease from 4000 to less than 83 within 48 h. Almost no dead bodies of
T. thermophila
were observed in the culture medium. Co-culturing of
T. thermophila
and the
A. gephyra
KYC5002 strain with inactivation of the tubulysin biosynthesis gene led to the population of
T. thermophila
increasing to 46,667. These results show that in nature, most myxobacteria are preyed upon by
T. thermophila
, but some myxobacteria prey on and kill
T. thermophila
using tubulysins. Adding purified tubulysin A to
T. thermophila
changed the cell shape from ovoid to spherical and caused cell surface cilia to disappear.
Two new potent anti-Gram negative compounds, coralmycins A (1) and B (2), were isolated from cultures of the myxobacteria Corallococcus coralloides M23, together with another derivative (3) that was ...identified as the very recently reported cystobactamid 919-2. Their structures including the relative stereochemistry were elucidated by interpretation of spectroscopic, optical rotation, and CD data. The relative stereochemistry of 3 was revised to “S*R*” by NMR analysis. The antibacterial activity of 1 was most potent against Gram-negative pathogens, including Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumanii, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, with MICs of 0.1–4 μg/mL; these MICs were 4–10 and 40–100 times stronger than the antibacterial activities of 3 and 2, respectively. Thus, these data indicated that the β-methoxyasparagine unit and the hydroxy group of the benzoic acid unit were critical for antibacterial activity.
DKxanthenes are a class of yellow secondary metabolites produced by myxobacterial genera Myxococcus and Stigmatella. We identified a putative 49.5 kb DKxanthene biosynthetic gene cluster from ...Myxococcus stipitatus DSM 14675 by genomic sequence and mutational analyses. The cluster consisted of 15 genes (MYSTI_06004-MYSTI_06018) encoding polyketide synthases, non-ribosomal peptide synthases, and proteins with unknown functions. Disruption of the genes by plasmid insertion resulted in defects in the production of yellow pigments. Highperformance liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analyses indicated that the yellow pigments produced by M. stipitatus DSM 14675 might be novel DKxanthene derivatives. M. stipitatus did not require DKxanthenes for the formation of heat-resistant viable spores, unlike Myxococcus xanthus. Furthermore, DKxanthenes showed growth inhibitory activity against the fungi Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans, and Rhizopus stolonifer.
Argyrins are a group of anticancer and antibacterial octapeptide bioactive substances isolated from myxobacteria. In this study, we showed that the myxobacterium Archangium gephyra MEHO_001, isolated ...in Korea, produces argyrins A and B. MEHO_001 cells tend to aggregate when cultured in liquid media. Hence, a dispersion mutant, MEHO_002, was isolated from MEHO_001. The MEHO_002 strain produced approximately 3.5 times more argyrins than that produced by the wild-type strain MEHO_001. We determined the whole-genome sequence of A. gephyra MEHO_002 and identified a putative argyrin biosynthetic gene cluster comprising five genes, arg1-arg5, encoding non-ribosomal peptide synthases and tailoring enzymes. Inactivation of arg2 by plasmid insertion disrupted argyrin production. The amino acid sequences of the proteins encoded by arg2-arg5 of A. gephyra MEHO_002 were 90-98% similar to those encoded by the argyrin biosynthetic genes of Cystobacter sp. SBCb004, an argyrin-producing myxobacterium with identical domain organization.
Phenalamide is a bioactive secondary metabolite produced by Myxococcus stipitatus. We identified a 56 kb phenalamide biosynthetic gene cluster from M. stipitatus DSM 14675 by genomic sequence ...analysis and mutational analysis. The cluster is comprised of 12 genes (MYSTI_04318- MYSTI_04329) encoding three pyruvate dehydrogenase subunits, eight polyketide synthase modules, a non-ribosomal peptide synthase module, a hypothetical protein, and a putative flavin adenine dinucleotide-binding protein. Disruption of the MYSTI_04324 or MYSTI_04325 genes by plasmid insertion resulted in a defect in phenalamide production. The organization of the phenalamide biosynthetic modules encoded by the fifth to tenth genes (MYSTI_04320- MYSTI_04325) was very similar to that of the myxalamid biosynthetic gene cluster from Stigmatella aurantiaca Sg a15, as expected from similar backbone structures of the two substances. However, the loading module and the first extension module of the phenalamide synthase encoded by the first to fourth genes (MYSTI_04326-MYSTI_04329) were found only in the phenalamide biosynthetic gene cluster from M. stipitatus DSM 14675.
Tubulysins are a group of secondary metabolites produced by myxobacteria that inhibit the function of the eukayotic cytoskeleton. We developed a pair of PCR primers that specifically amplified ...tubulysin biosynthetic genes. Using these primers, eight out of the eighty-one strains of myxobacteria belonging to the Cystobacteraceae family that harbored putative tubulysin biosynthetic genes were screened through PCR analysis. The selected strains included two Archangium gephyra, two Stigmatella sp., two Vitiosangium cumulatum, and two unidentified myxobacteria. LC-MS analysis of the culture extracts from the selected strains revealed that A. gephyra KYC4066 produced putative tubulysin A and B.
Tubulysin은 다양한 암세포주에 대해 강한 항암활성을 보이는 점액세균 유래 이차대사 생리활성물질이다. 본 연구에서는 tubulysin을 생산하는 두 균주의 점액세균 Archangium gephyra MEHO_002와 MEHO_004의 유전체 분석을 통해 tubulysin 생합성 유전자들로 추정되는 유전자군을 발견하였으며, 플라스미드 삽입에 의한 ...유전자 불활성화를 통해 이들 유전자들이 tubulysin 생산과 직접 연관되어 있음을 확인하였다. A. gephyra MEHO_002와 MEHO_004 균주의 tubulysin 생합성 유전자군(tubA~tubF)은 DNA 염기서열이 서로 97% 동일하였으며, 암호화하는 단백질들의 아미노산 서열도 서로 97-100% 유사하였다. MEHO_002와 MEHO_004 균주의 tubulysin 생합성 유전자군은 tubulysin 생산 점액세균으로 알려진 Cystobacter sp. SBCb004의 tubulysin 생합성 유전자군과 DNA 염기서열이 86% 동일하였다. 유전자군의 구성은 tubZ 유전자가 존재하지 않는다는 점을 제외하고는 SBCb004의 tubulysin 생합성 유전자군 구성과 동일하였다. 각 유전자가 암호화하는 단백질의 아미노산 서열은 Cystobacter sp. SBCb004의 tubulysin 생합성 유전자가 암호화하는 단백질들과 88-97% 유사하였으며, 각 단백질들의 도메인 구성도 동일하였다.
Tubulysins are a group of bioactive secondary metabolites from myxobacteria exhibiting strong anticancer activity against various cancer cell lines. In this study, we describe the identification of putative tubulysin biosynthetic gene clusters (tubA~tubF) in the genome sequences of two tubulysin-producing myxobacterial strains, Archangium gephyra MEHO_002 and MEHO_004. The inactivation of the putative tubulysin biosynthetic genes resulted in a tubulysin-production defect. The DNA sequences of the A. gephyra MEHO_002 and MEHO_004 tubulysin biosynthetic genes were 97% identical, and the amino acid sequences of the encoded proteins shared a similarity of 97-100%. The nucleotide sequences of the tubulysin biosynthetic gene clusters in MEHO_002 and MEHO_004 were 86% identical to that in Cystobacter sp. SBCb004 known as a tubulysin-producing myxobacterium, and the organization of the clusters was identical except for the lack of a tubZ gene in the clusters in MEHO_002 and MEHO_004. The amino acid sequences of the proteins encoded by each gene were 88-97% similar to those encoded by SBCb004, and the domain compositions of the proteins were also identical.
In the presence of vaporized p-cresol, Pseudomonas alkylphenolia KL28 forms specialized aerial structures (SAS). A transposon mutant of strain KL28 (C23) incapable of forming mature SAS was isolated. ...Genetic analysis of the C23 mutant revealed the transposon insertion in a gene (ssg) encoding a putative glycosyltransferase, which is homologous to the Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 PA5001 gene. Deletion of ssg in KL28 caused the loss of lipopolysaccharide O antigen and altered the composition of the exopolysaccharide. Wild-type KL28 produced a fucose-, glucose- and mannose-rich exopolysaccharide, while the mutant exopolysaccharide completely lacked fucose and mannose, resulting in an exopolysaccharide with glucose as the major component. The mutant strain showed reduced surface spreading, pellicle and biofilm formation, probably due to the cumulative effect of lipopolysaccharide truncation and altered exopolysaccharide composition. Our results show that the ssg gene of KL28 is involved in both lipopolysaccharide and exopolysaccharide biosynthesis and thus plays an important role in cell surface properties and cell-cell interactions of P. alkylphenolia.
Using MCF7 breast cancer cells, we tested the anticancer activity of metabolites from 130 strains of myxobacteria newly isolated in South Korea. Of these, three strains whose metabolites had high ...anticancer activity and low cell toxicity were selected and identified by their fruiting body morphology, cell morphology, and 16S rRNA sequence. Strains KYC4030 and KYC4048 were determined to be Myxococcus fulvus, whereas strain KYC4081 was identified as Corallococcus coralloides. We found that metabolites of M. fulvus KYC4048 demonstrated no toxicity in normal cells but specifically induced cancer cell death by suppressing the expression of WNT2B. This discovery highlights the value of assessing the metabolic and biomedical potential of myxobacteria, even those that are already known but were isolated from new areas, and the possible use of metabolites from M. fulvus KYC4048 in cancer treatment.
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