title: Gene cluster for biosynthesis of thermophilin 1277--a lantibiotic produced by Streptococcus thermophilus SBT1277, and heterologous expression of TepI, a novel immunity peptide.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify genes cluster for thermophilin 1277 produced by Streptococcus thermophilus SBT1277.
  
  
  RESULTS
  To identify genes for thermophilin 1277 production, the chromosomal DNA region surrounding the structural gene, tepA, was sequenced using a primer-walking method. The thermophilin 1277 biosynthesis gene locus (tep) is a 9·9-kb region, which consists of at least ten open reading frames (ORFs) in the following order: tepAMTFEGKRI and ORF4. Homology analysis showed high similarity to genes involved in bovicin HJ50 production by Streptococcus bovis HJ50. tepI encodes a novel, small, positively charged hydrophobic peptide of 52 amino acids, which contains a putative transmembrane segment. By heterologous expression in Lactococcus lactis ssp. cremoris MG1363, the TepI-expressing strain exhibited at least 1·3 times higher resistance to thermophilin 1277.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Thermophilin 1277 biosynthesis genes were encoded by a 9·9-kbp region containing at least ten ORFs. TepI is a novel immunity peptide, which protected Strep. thermophilus SBT1277 against thermophilin 1277 in addition to TepFEG, a putative ABC transporter.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first report regarding a lantibiotic gene cluster produced by Strep. thermophilus strain.
authors.affiliation: Milk Science Research Institute, Megmilk Snow Brand Co. Ltd., Kawagoe, Japan. kabuki@snowbrand.co.jp
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kabuki
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawai
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Uenishi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Seto
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kok
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001430:Bacteriocins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D023061:Gene Order; D013294:Lactococcus lactis / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010455:Peptides / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016985:Streptococcus bovis / Q000235:genetics; D048249:Streptococcus thermophilus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001430:Bacteriocins; D010455:Peptides; C586105:thermophilin 1277, Streptococcus thermophilus SBT1277