Gene Deletion Leads to Improved Valinomycin Production by Streptomyces sp. CBMAI 2042

The genus Streptomyces represents one of the largest producers of molecules with antibiotic activity. The whole genome sequencing of the endophytic microorganism Streptomyces sp. CBMAI 2042 revealed 35 gene clusters encoding for secondary metabolism including 3 non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) and 7 NRPS-hybrids. Combining genome mining and cultivation profile analysis, the depsipeptide ionophore valinomycin was identified as one of the main metabolites produced by this strain. To better understand the metabolic machinery codified in CBMAI 2042 genome an adenylation domain from a hybrid NRPS cluster was deleted through a double crossing knockout experiment. Though the deletion was not plentiful to elucidate the encoded NRP metabolite related to the adenilation domain, an astounding increase of 10.5-fold in valinomycin production was observed in the mutant. These results suggest a metabolic flux redistribution of common substrates as an outcome of a gene target deletion.