title: Autoregulatory factors and communication in actinomycetes.
abstract: The ability to produce a wide variety of secondary metabolites and a mycelial form of growth that develops into spores are two biological aspects characteristic of the gram-positive bacterial genus Streptomyces. Secondary metabolism and cell differentiation are controlled by diffusible low-molecular-weight chemical substances called autoregulators. A-factor, the representative of the autoregulators, triggers streptomycin production and aerial-mycelium formation in Streptomyces griseus. A-factor exerts its regulatory function with the aid of a receptor protein that itself acts as a repressor-type regulator. The A-factor signal via the A-factor-receptor protein is transferred to downstream genes, such as streptomycin-production genes and sporulation genes, through multiple regulatory genes in a complex regulatory cascade. Thus, A-factor can be termed a "microbial hormone." This review deals with the A-factor-regulatory cascade as a model system for other autoregulators. The biosynthesis of A-factor, the structures and characteristics of other autoregulators, and the importance of these autoregulators in the ecosystem are also included.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Chemistry, University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Horinouchi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Beppu
mesh_terms: D000190:Actinomyces / Q000235:genetics*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins