luxR Homolog-Linked Biosynthetic Gene Clusters in Proteobacteria.

ABSTRACT: Microbes are a major source of antibiotics, pharmaceuticals, and other bioactive compounds. The production of many specialized microbial metabolites is encoded in biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). A challenge associated with natural product discovery is that many BGCs are not expressed under laboratory growth conditions. Here we report a genome-mining approach to discover BGCs with luxR-type quorum sensing (QS) genes, which code for regulatory proteins that control gene expression. Our results show that BGCs linked to genes coding for LuxR-like proteins are widespread in Proteobacteria. In addition, we show that associations between luxR homolog genes and BGCs have evolved independently many times, with functionally diverse gene clusters. Overall, these clusters may p

SUBMITTER: Brotherton CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5872303 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May-Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature