Feast or famine: the global regulator DasR links nutrient stress to antibiotic production by Streptomyces.

ABSTRACT: Members of the soil-dwelling prokaryotic genus Streptomyces produce many secondary metabolites, including antibiotics and anti-tumour agents. Their formation is coupled with the onset of development, which is triggered by the nutrient status of the habitat. We propose the first complete signalling cascade from nutrient sensing to development and antibiotic biosynthesis. We show that a high concentration of N-acetylglucosamine-perhaps mimicking the accumulation of N-acetylglucosamine after autolytic degradation of the vegetative mycelium-is a major checkpoint for the onset of secondary metabolism. The response is transmitted to antibiotic pathway-specific activators through the pleiotropic transcriptional repressor DasR, the regulon of which also includes all N-acetylglucosamine-related cat

SUBMITTER: Rigali S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2475330 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature