Purification and characterization of goadsporin, a chemical substance which promotes secondary metabolism and morphogenesis in streptomycetes

Hiroyasu Onaka*, Hirokazu Tabata, Yasuhiro Igarashi, Yukio Sato+ and Tamotsu Furumai,
Biotechnology Research Center, Toyama Prefectural University,
+College of Technology, Toyama Prefectural University,
Kosugi, Toyama 939-0398, Japan

*Corresponding author. Phone: (0766) 56-7500, ext. 522. Fax: +81 (766) 56-2498.
Biotechnology Research Center, Toyama Prefectural University,
Kosugi, Toyama 939-0398, Japan
E-mail: onaka@pu-toyama.ac.jp


Abstract

Streptomycetes, which belong to the Gram-positive bacteria, produce the secondary metabolites and sporulate. The timing of starting the secondary metabolite production and the sporulation depends on the environmental condition such as nitrogen and carbon sources. In order to obtain a tool for understanding the regulation mechanism, we carried out a screening of chemical substances which induce the secondary metabolism and sporulation in streptomycetes and found an active substance from the culture broth of Streptomyces sp. TP-A0584. This substance designated goadsporin induced the formation of the red pigment and the sporulation in Streptomyces lividans TK23 which dose not produce the pigment under normal growth conditions at the concentration of 1 nM. Goadsporin is a oligopeptide consisted of 19 amino acids with the molecular formula of C72H97N19O20S2. Sporulation and/or secondary metabolite production was induced in 36 streptomycetes strains among 42 strains tested. These results suggest that goadsporin acts on a common regulation pathway for the sporulation and secondary metabolism in streptomycetes and can be a powerful tool to analyze the regulation mechanism.



Fig.1
Secondary metabolites of Streptomyces sp. TP-A0584.

Fig.2
Effects of goadsporin for Streptomyces lividans

Fig.3
Structure of goadsporin

Fig.4
Effects of goadsporin for various actinomycetes

Fig. 5
Effects of goadsporin for antibiosis

Fig. 6
Antimicrobial activity of goadsporin