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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2009, p. 4813-4820, Vol. 75, No. 14
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02958-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Detection, Distribution, and Organohalogen Compound Discovery Implications of the Reduced Flavin Adenine Dinucleotide-Dependent Halogenase Gene in Major Filamentous Actinomycete Taxonomic Groups{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Peng Gao and Ying Huang*

State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China

Received 30 December 2008/ Accepted 11 May 2009

Halogenases have been shown to play a significant role in biosynthesis and introducing the bioactivity of many halogenated secondary metabolites. In this study, 54 reduced flavin adenine dinucleotide (FADH2)-dependent halogenase gene-positive strains were identified after the PCR screening of a large collection of 228 reference strains encompassing all major families and genera of filamentous actinomycetes. The wide distribution of this gene was observed to extend to some rare lineages with higher occurrences and large sequence diversity. Subsequent phylogenetic analyses revealed that strains containing highly homologous halogenases tended to produce halometabolites with similar structures, and halogenase genes are likely to propagate by horizontal gene transfer as well as vertical inheritance within actinomycetes. Higher percentages of halogenase gene-positive strains than those of halogenase gene-negative ones contained polyketide synthase genes and/or nonribosomal peptide synthetase genes or displayed antimicrobial activities in the tests applied, indicating their genetic and physiological potentials for producing secondary metabolites. The robustness of this halogenase gene screening strategy for the discovery of particular biosynthetic gene clusters in rare actinomycetes besides streptomycetes was further supported by genome-walking analysis. The described distribution and phylogenetic implications of the FADH2-dependent halogenase gene present a guide for strain selection in the search for novel organohalogen compounds from actinomycetes.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China. Phone and fax: 86 (0) 10 6480 7311. E-mail: huangy{at}im.ac.cn

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 15 May 2009.

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

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2009, p. 4813-4820, Vol. 75, No. 14
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02958-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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