Identification of the Anti-Infective Aborycin Biosynthetic Gene Cluster from Deep-Sea-Derived Streptomyces sp. SCSIO ZS0098 Enables Production in a Heterologous Host

Aborycin is a ribosomally synthesized member of the type I lasso peptide natural products. In the present study, aborycin was isolated and identified from the deep-sea-derived microbe Streptomyces sp. SCSIO ZS0098. The aborycin biosynthetic gene cluster (abo) was identified on the basis of genome sequence analyses and then heterologously expressed in Streptomyces coelicolor M1152 to effectively produce aborycin. Aborycin generated in this fashion exhibited moderate antibacterial activity against 13 Staphylococcus aureus strains from various sources with minimum inhibitory concentrations MICs = 8.0~128 µg/mL, against Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212 with an MIC = 8.0 µg/mL, and against Bacillus thuringiensis with MIC = 2.0 µg/mL. Additionally, aborycin displayed potent antibacterial activity (MIC = 0.5 µg/mL) against the poultry pathogen Enterococcus gallinarum 5F52C. The reported abo cluster clearly has the potential to provide a means of expanding the repertoire of anti-infective type I lasso peptides.