Applications and Restrictions of Integrated Genomic and Metabolomic Screening: An Accelerator for Drug Discovery from Actinomycetes?

Since the golden age of antibiotics in the 1950s and 1960s actinomycetes have been the most prolific source for bioactive natural products. However, the number of discoveries of new bioactive compounds decreases since decades. New procedures (e.g., activating strategies or innovative fermentation techniques) were developed to enhance the productivity of actinomycetes. Nevertheless, compound identification remains challenging among others due to high rediscovery rates. Rapid and cheap genome sequencing as well as the advent of bioinformatical analysis tools for biosynthetic gene cluster identification in combination with mass spectrometry-based molecular networking facilitated the tedious process of dereplication. In recent years several studies have been dedicated to accessing the biosynthetic potential of Actinomyces species, especially streptomycetes, by using integrated genomic and metabolomic screening in order to boost the discovery rate of new antibiotics. This review aims to present the various possible applications of this approach as well as the newly discovered molecules, covering studies between 2014 and 2021. Finally, the effectiveness of this approach with regard to find new bioactive agents from actinomycetes will be evaluated.