title: Engineering precursor metabolite pools for increasing production of antitumor mithramycins in Streptomyces argillaceus.
abstract: Mithramycin (MTM) is a polyketide antitumor compound produced by Streptomyces argillaceus constituted by a tricyclic aglycone with two aliphatic side chains, a trisaccharide and a disaccharide chain. The biosynthesis of the polyketide aglycone is initiated by the condensation of ten malonyl-CoA units to render a carbon chain that is modified to a tetracyclic intermediate and sequentially glycosylated by five deoxysugars originated from glucose-1-phosphate. Further oxidation and reduction render the final compound. We aimed to increase the precursor supply of malonyl-CoA and/or glucose-1-phosphate in S. argillaceus to enhance MTM production. We have shown that by overexpressing either the S. coelicolor phosphoglucomutase gene pgm or the acetyl-CoA carboxylase ovmGIH genes from the oviedomycin biosynthesis gene cluster in S. argillaceus, we were able to increase the intracellular pool of glucose-1-phosphate and malonyl-CoA, respectively. Moreover, we have cloned the S. argillaceus ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase gene glgCa and the acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase gene aftAa, and we showed that by inactivating them, an increase of the intracellular concentration of glucose-1-phosphate/glucose-6-phosphate and malonyl-CoA/acetyl-CoA was observed, respectively. Each individual modification resulted in an enhancement of MTM production but the highest production level was obtained by combining all strategies together. In addition, some of these strategies were successfully applied to increase production of four MTM derivatives with improved pharmacological properties: demycarosyl-mithramycin, demycarosyl-3D-β-D-digitoxosyl-mithramycin, mithramycin SK and mithramycin SDK.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Funcional e Instituto Universitario de Oncología del Principado de Asturias (I.U.O.P.A), Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zabala
authors.forename: Alfredo F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Braña
authors.forename: Ana B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Flórez
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Salas
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Méndez
mesh_terms: D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D005958:Glucosephosphates / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008316:Malonyl Coenzyme A / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D060847:Metabolic Engineering; D008926:Plicamycin / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D013302:Streptomyces / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005958:Glucosephosphates; D008316:Malonyl Coenzyme A; C031590:glucose-1-phosphate; D008926:Plicamycin
keywords: Antitumor; Glucose-1-phosphate; Malonyl-CoA; Metabolic engineering; Production; Streptomyces