Characterization of the biosynthetic gene cluster of the polyene macrolide antibiotic reedsmycins from a marine-derived Streptomyces strain

BACKGROUND: Polyene antibiotics are important as antifungal medicines albeit with serious side effects such as nephrotoxicity. Reedsmycin (RDM) A (1), produced by marine-derived Streptomyces youssoufiensis OUC6819, is a non-glycosylated polyene macrolide antibiotic with antifungal activity comparable to that of clinically used nystatin. To elucidate its biosynthetic machinery, herein, the rdm biosynthetic gene cluster was cloned and characterized. RESULTS: The rdm cluster is located within a 104 kb DNA region harboring 21 open reading frames (ORFs), among which 15 ORFs were designated as rdm genes. The assembly line for RDM A is proposed on the basis of module and domain analysis of the polyketide synthetases (PKSs) RdmGHIJ, which catalyze 16 rounds of decarboxylative condensation using malonyl-CoA as the starter unit (loading module), two methylmalonyl-CoA (module 1 and 2), and fourteen malonyl-CoA (module 3–16) as extender units successively. However, the predicted substrate specificity of AT0 in the loading module is methylmalonyl-CoA instead of malonyl-CoA. Interestingly, the rdm cluster contains a five-gene regulation system RdmACDEF, which is different from other reported polyene gene clusters. In vivo experiments demonstrated the XRE family regulator RdmA and the PAS/LuxR family regulator RdmF function in negative and positive manner, respectively. Notably, inactivation of rdmA and overexpression of rdmF led to increased production of RDM A by ~ 2.0-fold and ~ 2.5-fold, reaching yields of 155.3 ± 1.89 and 184.8 ± 9.93 mg/L, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Biosynthesis of RDM A is accomplished on a linear assembly line catalyzed by Rdm PKSs harboring a unique AT0 under the control of a complex regulatory system. These findings enable generation of new biologically active RDM derivatives at high yield and with improved properties by engineered biosynthesis. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12934-018-0943-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.