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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2009, p. 3296-3303, Vol. 75, No. 10
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02730-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Candicidin Biosynthesis Gene Cluster Is Widely Distributed among Streptomyces spp. Isolated from the Sediments and the Neuston Layer of the Trondheim Fjord, Norway{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Hanne Jørgensen,1 Espen Fjærvik,1 Sigrid Hakvåg,1 Per Bruheim,1 Harald Bredholt,2 Geir Klinkenberg,3 Trond E. Ellingsen,3 and Sergey B. Zotchev1*

Department of Biotechnology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway,1 Axellia AS, Harbitzaleen 3, 0275 Oslo, Norway,2 Department of Industrial Biotechnology, SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, SINTEF, N-7034 Trondheim, Norway3

Received 30 November 2008/ Accepted 6 March 2009

A large number of Streptomyces bacteria with antifungal activity isolated from samples collected in the Trondheim fjord (Norway) were found to produce polyene compounds. Investigation of polyene-containing extracts revealed that most of the isolates produced the same compound, which had an atomic mass and UV spectrum corresponding to those of candicidin D. The morphological diversity of these isolates prompted us to speculate about the involvement of a mobile genetic element in dissemination of the candicidin biosynthesis gene cluster (can). Eight candicidin-producing isolates were analyzed by performing a 16S rRNA gene-based taxonomic analysis, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, PCR, and Southern blot hybridization with can-specific probes. These analyses revealed that most of the isolates were related, although they were morphologically diverse, and that all of them contained can genes. The majority of the isolates studied contained large plasmids, and two can-specific probes hybridized to a 250-kb plasmid in one isolate. Incubation of the latter isolate at a high temperature resulted in loss of the can genes and candicidin production, while mating of the "cured" strain with a plasmid-containing donor restored candicidin production. The latter result suggested that the 250-kb plasmid contains the complete can gene cluster and could be responsible for conjugative transfer of this cluster to other streptomycetes.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biotechnology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway. Phone: 47 73 59 86 79. Fax: 47 73 59 12 83. E-mail: sergey.zotchev{at}nt.ntnu.no

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 13 March 2009.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aem.asm.org/.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2009, p. 3296-3303, Vol. 75, No. 10
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02730-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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