Patent Application
20070122885
Not applicable.
The invention is a process for improving the production of secondary metabolites. When this process is applied to an organism that makes a useful secondary metabolite such as an antibiotic, the organism produces more of the antibiotic.
After a weekend vacation, Alexander Fleming returned to his laboratory to discover that one of his cultures of bacteria had been contaminated with mold. Not only was the plate contaminated, but the bacterial cells, Staphylococcus aureus, had lysed. Instead of throwing the contaminated plates away, Fleming observed that bacterial cell lysis occurred in an area next to the mold and hypothesized that the mold had made a product responsible for the death of the bacteria. He later was able to extract the diffusible substance from the mold, and penicillin was born.
Because antibiotics as a class of drugs are able to kill a broad spectrum of harmful bacterial pathogens, their use has revolutionized medicine, trivializing many diseases that had before taken millions of lives. For example, the plague, caused by infection with the Yersinias pestis bacterium, has laid claim to nearly 200 million lives and has brought about monumental changes, such as the end of the Dark Ages and the advancement of clinical research in medicine. Gentamycin and streptomycin are used to treat patients infected with plague, thus increasing the likelihood of survival. Erythromycins are used to treat respiratory tract and Chlamydia infections, diptheria, Legionnaires' disease, syphilis, anthrax and acne vulgaris. Erythromycins are also used to prevent Streptococcal infections in patients with a history of rheumatic heart disease.
Biological weapons are a real and current threat. Antibiotics are an important defense against the possible devastation such weapons can bring.
Medically important chemical structures made in nature, such as antibiotics, fall into chemical classes based on shared routes of biosynthesis. The macrolides are a group of drugs characterized by the presence of a macrolide ring, a large lactone (a cyclic ester) to which one or more deoxy sugars (in erythromycin the sugars are cladinose and desosamine) are attached. The lactone ring can be either 14, 15 or 16-membered. Macrolides are polyketides, and include erythromycin and its derivatives, such as those marketed as Biaxin®, Rulid®, and Zithromax®.
Erythromycin
Like many secondary metabolites (a metabolite that is produced only under certain physiological conditions), erythromycin is a tailored polymer. The building blocks are one molecule of propionic acid and six molecules of methylmalonic acid in their Coenzyme A (CoA) forms (Omura et al., 1984). Tailoring steps include the addition of two sugars, the addition of a methyl group to one sugar, and the addition of two hydroxyl groups to the polyketide polymer backbone. While the chemical building blocks are known, the source of propionic and methylmalonic acids used to form the molecule are not.
Two sources of these building blocks have been reported: (1) diversion from central metabolic pathways; and (2) amino acid catabolic (break-down) pathways. Evidence for the diversion pathway comes from observations that suggest that succinyl-CoA is the major source of methylmalonyl-CoA via the enzyme methylmalonyl-CoA mutase (MCM) (Hunaiti and Kolattukudy, 1984). Decarboxylation of methylmalonyl-CoA gives rise to propionyl-CoA (Hsieh and Kolattukudy, 1994). These results imply that the precursors for erythromycin biosynthesis are taken at the expense of central metabolism in a reverse-anaplerotic reaction (a reaction that form intermediates of the citric acid cycle). Consistent with these observations, when the mutAB gene is isolated from a rifamycin-producing strain of Amycolatopsis mediterranei U32 and then over-expressed in a monensin (another antibiotic)-producing Streptomyces cinnamonensis host, monensin production increased 32% (Zhang et al., 1999).
Amino acid catabolism has been identified as another source of polyketide precursors (Dotzlaf et al., 1984; Omura et al., 1984; Omura et al., 1983). When branched chain amino acids such as valine, isoleucine, leucine or valine catabolites (propionate and isobutyrate) and threonine are added to fermentation medium, an increase in a macrolide antibiotic and its polyketide-derived precursors is observed (Omura et al., 1984; Omura et al., 1983; Tang et al., 1994). Conversely, when valine catabolism is blocked at the first step (valine dehydrogenase, vdh), production of two different macrolide antibiotics decrease four- to six-fold (Tang et al., 1994). These results suggest that amino acid catabolism, in particular branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) catabolism, is another source of macrolide antibiotic precursors in the Actinomycetes.
Surprisingly, when the branched-chain amino acid catabolic pathway is blocked at a later step in propionyl-CoA carboxylase, macrolide production was not reduced (Donadio et al., 1996; Hunaiti and Kolattukudy, 1984), conflicting with the observations by Dotzlaf et al. (1984). These observations can be explained in part by the use of different macrolide-producing hosts; precursor feeding pathways may not operate universally and be host-dependent.
Methylmalonyl-CoA mutase, encoded by the mutAB gene pair ((Birch et al., 1993; Marsh et al., 1989); see
Commercial production of antibiotics, such as erythromycin, is accomplished through large fermentations. However, production is limited to the output that any particular strain is capable of under particular culture conditions. This observation is especially true for secondary products, such as antibiotics, where efficiency and concentrations are both low. To increase efficiency and economy in antibiotic production, strains have been engineered, either by (1) a haphazard, random mutational approach that requires either a selection (rarely available) or laborious, brute-force screens (and some luck), and by directed, or (2) targeted genetic alterations. While the mutational approach is simple to perform and has been successful in generating improved mutants, its ability to provide innovations is limited, and in fact, has not produced any new genetic information in the understanding of strain improvement over the last 60 years. On the other hand, directed genetic manipulation allows not only for strain improvement, but also an understanding of the pathways that produce the antibiotic.
An example of the admirable results of the directed genetic manipulation approach is demonstrated by the targeted knockout of the mutB gene in the model erythromycin-producing Aeromicrobium erythreum bacterium, which resulted in improved antibiotic production (Reeves et al., 2004). The challenge of such results, however, is to transfer the results to a setting that is industry-applicable.
A variable that has recently become a topic of controversy is the use of oils in fermentation media in the culture of Streptomyces cinnamonensis and monensin production, also a secondary metabolite (Li et al., 2004). However, the coupling of genetic manipulation and fermentation condition manipulation to improve and increase polyketide production from a single pathway instead of shifting between pathways has not been heretofore practiced.
The invention is directed to methods of increasing polyketide production, especially polyketides, such as erythromycin, by increasing the activity of methylmalonyl-CoA. The invention also includes bacterial cells that have been modified to increase the activity of methylmalonyl-CoA. Finally, the invention is directed to methods of culturing modified cells to increase polyketide production.
The invention is based on the finding that manipulating metabolic pathways that lead to or from a metabolite pool of methylmalonyl CoA within the cell can result in an increase in production of secondary metabolites derived from methylmalonyl CoA. The invention came about because of a striking result that showed that erythromycin production could be increased by increasing the activity of methylmalonyl-CoA mutase, whether directly or indirectly, as well as manipulating culture conditions (Reeves et al., 2006). This result is especially striking when previous results are considered, wherein erythromycin production was increased by decreasing methylmalonyl-CoA mutase activity (Reeves et al., 2004).
Based on these results, the invention exploits the finding and applies it more universally. By increasing the overall concentration of methylmalonyl CoA in the cell, production of important secondary metabolites, including metabolites such as erythromycin, is significantly increased. The methylmalonyl CoA metabolite pool can be increased using a variety of “tools,” which tinker with the input into the pool, as well as with the output. Input is increased by increasing the activity of enzymes, or the concentration of enzymes, that result in the production of methylmamlonyl-CoA. Either simultaneously or alternatively, the output from, or draining of, the methylmalonyl-CoA pool is restricted by decreasing the activity of one or more enzymes that use methylmalonyl-CoA as a substrate, except, for example, the polyketide synthase used in erythromycin biosynthesis.
Several tools in the invention's tool box include various genetic manipulations of the enzymes in pathways that lead to and from the methylmalonyl-CoA pool, as well as culture condition manipulations, notably the choice of carbon source—for example, selecting between carbohydrate and oil. Using the different tools together can produce in some cases optimal results and can be used to “fine-tune” production of the target metabolite.
Aeromicrobium erythreum MCM mutants lacking MCM activity produce about two-fold more erythromycin than the parent strain (Reeves et al., 2004). This technology was transferred to Saccharopolyspora erythraea, the most common, if not universal, industrial erythromycin-producer. Accordingly, an MCM-mutant was generated and tested in shake flask fermentations using standard laboratory medium, soluble complete medium (SCM). As expected, four-fold increase in erythromycin production was observed. mutB mutants also produced as much erythromycin in medium without soybean oil addition (in medium with lower starch concentrations) as the wild-type strains.
However, when the MCM-S. erythraea mutant was cultured in a soy flour-based industrial medium (insoluble production medium) instead of laboratory medium, the mutant unexpectedly produced significantly less erythromycin than the parent strain.
Because the only variable besides the media was the genetic ablation of MCM expression, an MCM over-expression strain was produced and cultured in the two media. This strain had not previously been developed, although a Streptomyces cinnamonensis mutant was produced to over-express an Amycolatopsis mediterranei MCM, resulting in a modest increase in monensin production of 32% in laboratory medium (Zhang et al., 1999). The MCM over-expression mutant increased erythromycin output by 200% in SCM medium and 48% in industrial medium.
Based on these unexpected results, the invention provides for compositions, methods and systems for the improvement of antibiotic production, especially erythromycin.
SCM means Soluble Complete Medium (McAlpine et al., 1987). A typical formulation appropriate for S. erythraea is per liter: 15 g soluble starch; 20 g Bacto soytone (soybean peptone; Becton-Dickinson); 0.1 g calcium chloride; 1.5 g yeast extract; 10.5 g 3-(N-Morpholino)propanesulfonic acid (MOPS), pH 6.8.
Soy flour is a fine powder made from soybeans (Glycine max).
Unrefined soy source is any form of soybean that can be even partially dissolved in solution, such as SCM or IPM media. “Unrefined” means that the soybean has undergone minimal processing, but does not mean no processing. For example, soy flour is an unrefined soy source. An example of processing includes the production of soybean peptone, such as Bacto soytone.
MCM means the enzyme methylmalonyl-CoA mutase. Any MCM having at least 64% sequence identity to the polynucleotide sequence (SEQ ID NO:8) or polypeptide sequence (SEQ ID NOs:9 and 10) of S. erytheae falls within the scope of the invention. For example, BLAST analysis shows 64% amino acid sequence identity between the mutB polypeptide of A. erythreum and the equivalent human sequence. A high degree of identity exists to all other mutB genes in the database. Also included are those polypeptides having MCM-activity, defined as catalyzing reactants that result in the interconversion of methylmalony-CoA and succinyl-CoA, regardless of the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide.
Regulator means a substance, process, gene, or gene product that controls another substance, process, gene or gene product. A negative regulator is a regulator that decreases another substance, process, gene or gene product; a positive regulator increases another substance, process, gene or gene product.
Complementary refers to Watson-Crick or Hoogsteen base pairing between nucleotides units of a nucleic acid molecule, and the term “binding” means the physical or chemical interaction between two polypeptides or compounds or associated polypeptides or compounds or combinations thereof. Binding includes ionic, non-ionic, van der Waals, hydrophobic interactions, and the like. A physical interaction can be either direct or indirect. Indirect interactions may be through or due to the effects of another polypeptide or compound. Direct binding refers to interactions that do not take place through, or due to, the effect of another polypeptide or compound, but instead are without other substantial chemical intermediates.
Nucleic acid fragments are at least 6 (contiguous) nucleic acids or at least 4 (contiguous) amino acids, a length sufficient to allow for specific hybridization in the case of nucleic acids or for specific recognition of an epitope in the case of amino acids, respectively, and are at most some portion less than a full-length sequence. Fragments may be derived from any contiguous portion of a nucleic acid or amino acid sequence of choice.
A homologous nucleic acid sequence or homologous amino acid sequence, or variations thereof, refer to sequences characterized by a homology at the nucleotide level or amino acid level. Homologous nucleotide sequences encode those sequences coding for isoforms of MCM. Isoforms can be expressed in different tissues of the same organism as a result of, for example, alternative splicing of RNA. Alternatively, different genes can encode isoforms. In the invention, homologous nucleotide sequences include nucleotide sequences encoding for a MCM of species other than bacteria, including, but not limited to: vertebrates, and thus can include, e.g., frog, mouse, rat, rabbit, dog, cat, cow, horse, and any organism, including all polyketide-producers. Homologous nucleotide sequences also include, but are not limited to, naturally occurring allelic variations and mutations of the nucleotide sequences set forth herein. A homologous nucleotide sequence does not, however, include the exact nucleotide sequence encoding human MCM. Homologous nucleic acid sequences include those nucleic acid sequences that encode conservative amino acid substitutions in SEQ ID NOs:9 and 10, as well as a polypeptide possessing MCM biological activity.
An open reading frame (ORF) of a MCM gene encodes MCM. An ORF is a nucleotide sequence that has a start codon (ATG) and terminates with one of the three “stop” codons (TAA, TAG, or TGA). In this invention, however, an ORF may be any part of a coding sequence that may or may not comprise a start codon and a stop codon. To achieve a unique sequence, preferable MCM ORFs encode at least 50 amino acids.
Operably linked means a polynucleotide that is in a functional relationship with another nucleic acid sequence. For example, a promoter or enhancer is operably linked to a coding sequence if it affects the transcription of the sequence; or a ribosome binding site is operably linked to a coding sequence if it is positioned so as to facilitate translation. Generally, “operably linked” means that the DNA sequences being linked are contiguous. Enhancers do not have to be contiguous. Linking is accomplished by ligation at convenient restriction sites. If such sites do not exist, the synthetic oligonucleotide adaptors or linkers can be used.
An isolated MCM-encoding polynucleotide is a nucleic acid molecule that is identified and separated from at least one contaminant nucleic acid molecule with which it is ordinarily associated in the natural source of the MCM nucleic acid. An isolated MCM nucleic acid molecule includes those contained in cells that ordinarily express the MCM polypeptide where, for example, the nucleic acid is in a chromosomal location different from that of natural cells, or as provided extra-chromosomally.
An isolated or purified polypeptide, protein or biologically active fragment is separated and/or recovered from a component of its natural environment. Contaminant components include materials that would typically interfere with diagnostic or therapeutic uses for the polypeptide, and may include enzymes, hormones, and other proteinaceous or non-proteinaceous materials. Preferably, the polypeptide is purified to a sufficient degree to obtain at least 15 residues of N-terminal or internal amino acid sequence. To be substantially isolated, preparations having less than 30% by dry weight of non-MCM contaminating material (contaminants), more preferably less than 20%, 10% and most preferably less than 5% contaminants. An isolated, recombinantly-produced MCM or biologically active portion is preferably substantially free of culture medium, i.e., culture medium represents less than 20%, more preferably less than about 10%, and most preferably less than about 5% of the volume of the MCM preparation. Examples of contaminants include cell debris, culture media, and substances used and produced during in vitro synthesis of MCM.
An active MCM polypeptide or MCM polypeptide fragment retains a biological and/or an immunological activity similar, but not necessarily identical, to an activity of a naturally-occurring (wild-type) MCM polypeptide of the invention, including mature forms. A particular biological assay, with or without dose dependency, can be used to determine MCM activity. A nucleic acid fragment encoding a biologically-active portion of MCM can be prepared by isolating a portion of SEQ ID NO:8 that encodes a polypeptide having a MCM biological activity (the biological activities of the MCM are described below), expressing the encoded portion of MCM (e.g., by recombinant expression in vitro) and assessing the activity of the encoded portion of MCM. Immunological activity refers to the ability to induce the production of an antibody against an antigenic epitope possessed by a native MCM; biological activity refers to a function, either inhibitory or stimulatory, caused by a native MCM that excludes immunological activity.
Practicing the Invention
The invention is exemplified by the situation wherein erythromycin production is increased by increasing activity of the MCM, using erythromycin-producing strains to exemplify the methods. Various tools that can be used to manipulate other enzymes that lead to or from the methylmalonyl-CoA metabolite pool are also discussed. Culture conditions are discussed that can be used to maximize antibiotic production, especially using commercial culture conditions.
Increasing methylmalonyl-CoA mutase Activity
In one embodiment, a process of the present invention includes increasing the activity of methylmalonyl-CoA mutase, the enzyme that catalyzes the inter-conversion of methylmalonyl-CoA and succinyl-CoA.
The activity of methylmalonyl-CoA mutase can be increased by any means that results in an increase in production of methylmalonyl-CoA, and ultimately, a polyketide. When increasing the activity of MCM, care should be taken that sufficient substrate and co-factors are available to accommodate the increased activity, including the co-enzyme B12. In some cases, increasing MCM activity simply requires providing additional substrate and co-factors.
The activity of methylmalonyl-CoA mutase (MCM) can also be increased by increasing the amount of enzyme that is expressed. Means of increasing the amount of MCM include: (1) increasing the transcription, translation or copy number of the MCM gene; (2) increasing the transcription, translation, or copy number of a positive regulator of the MCM gene; and (3) decreasing the transcription or translation of a negative regulator of the MCM gene, including genetically inactivating the gene. These approaches can be combined to maximize MCM activity.
Increasing the Transcription, Translation or Copy Number of the MCM Gene or Positive Regulator of the MCM Gene
(a) Control Sequences
One method of increasing transcription is to enlist powerful control sequences. “Control sequences” refers to nucleotide sequences that enable expression of an operably linked coding sequence in a particular host organism. Prokaryotic control sequences include (1) a promoter, (2) optionally an operator sequence, and (3) a ribosome-binding site. Enhancers, which are often separated from the gene of interest, can also be used.
Examples of constitutive promoters include the int promoter of bacteriophage .lambda., the bla promoter of the β-lactamase gene sequence of pBR322, and the promoter of the chloramphenicol acetyl transferase gene sequence of pPR325, and the like. Examples of inducible prokaryotic promoters include the major right and left promoters of bacteriophage λ (PL and PR), the trp, recA, k acZ, λ acI, and gal promoters of E. coli the α-amylase (Ulmanen et al., 1985) and the ζ-28-specific promoters of B. subtilis (Gilman et al., 1984), the promoters of the bacteriophages of Bacillus (Gilman et al., 1984), and Streptomyces promoters (Ward et al., 1986). Prokaryotic promoters are reviewed by (Cenatiempo, 1986); and Gottesman (Gottesman, 1984).
(b) Extra Copies
Another method of increasing MCM activity includes introducing additional copies of an MCM polynucleotide. These extra copies can be extra-chromosomal or integrated into the host organism's genome, or both. Expression from these additional copies can be enhanced using control elements, such as promoters (including inducible promoters), enhancers, etc.. Nucleic acid variants encoding MCM can be used, as well as those that encode polypeptide MCM variants.
Alternatively, additional copies of MCM polynucleotides can be introduced by cross-mating bacteria.
The invention further encompasses using nucleic acid molecules that differ from the nucleotide sequences shown in SEQ ID NO:8 (shown in Table 2; SEQ ID NO:8 shows the MCM operon of S. erythraea; nucleotides 258-2114 encode mutA, the small subunit of MCM; nucleotides 2111-4405 encode mutB, the large subunit of MCM; nucleotides 4408-5394 encode meaB; and nucleotides 5394-5753 encode gntR) due to degeneracy of the genetic code and thus encode the same MCM as that encoded by the nucleotide sequences shown in SEQ ID NO:8. An isolated nucleic acid molecule useful in the invention has a nucleotide sequence encoding proteins, among others, having amino acid sequences shown in SEQ ID NOs:9 and 10 (shown in Table 1).
Table 3 shows SEQ ID NOs:12 and 13, wherein SEQ ID NO:12 represents the genomic sequences that are upstream of mutA, and includes ORFSe1 from nucleotide 236 to 1147. In SEQ ID NO:13, showing the genomic sequence downstream of gntR, encodes from nucleotide 500-1234, ORFSe6, a protein that is similar to putative lipoproteins in Streptomyces coelicolor and Streptomyces avermitilis.
Moreover, MCM from other species that have a nucleotide sequence that differs from the sequence of SEQ ID NO:8, are contemplated. Nucleic acid molecules corresponding to natural allelic variants and homologues of the MCM cDNAs of the invention can be isolated based on their homology to the MCM of SEQ ID NO:8 using cDNA-derived probes to hybridize to homologous MCM sequences under stringent conditions.
“MCM variant polynucleotide” or “MCM variant nucleic acid sequence” means a nucleic acid molecule which encodes an active MCM that (1) has at least about 80% nucleic acid sequence identity with a nucleotide acid sequence encoding a full-length native MCM, (2) a full-length native MCM lacking the signal peptide, (3) an extracellular domain of a MCM, with or without the signal peptide, or (4) any other fragment of a full-length MCM. Ordinarily, a MCM variant polynucleotide will have at least about 60% nucleic acid sequence identity, more preferably at least about 63%, 64%, 65%, 66%, 67%, 68%, 69%, 70%, 71%, 72%, 73%, 74%, 75%, 76%, 77%, 78%, 79%, 80%, 81%, 82%, 83%, 84%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% nucleic acid sequence identity and yet more preferably at least about 99% nucleic acid sequence identity with the nucleic acid sequence encoding a full-length native MCM. Variants do not encompass the native nucleotide sequence.
Ordinarily, MCM variant polynucleotides are at least about 30 nucleotides in length, often at least about 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240, 270, 300, 450, 600 nucleotides in length, more often at least about 900 nucleotides in length, or more.
“Percent (%) nucleic acid sequence identity” with respect to MCM-encoding nucleic acid sequences identified herein is defined as the percentage of nucleotides in a candidate sequence that are identical with the nucleotides in the MCM sequence of interest, after algning the sequences and introducing gaps, if necessary, to achieve the maximum percent sequence identity. Alignment for purposes of determining % nucleic acid sequence identity can be achieved in various ways that are within the skill in the art, for instance, using publicly available computer software such as BLAST, BLAST-2, ALIGN or Megalign (DNASTAR) software. Those skilled in the art can determine appropriate parameters for measuring alignment, including any algorithms needed to achieve maximal alignment over the full length of the sequences being compared.
When nucleotide sequences are aligned, the % nucleic acid sequence identity of a given nucleic acid sequence C to, with, or against a given nucleic acid sequence D (which can alternatively be phrased as a given nucleic acid sequence C that has or comprises a certain % nucleic acid sequence identity to, with, or against a given nucleic acid sequence D) can be calculated as follows:
% nucleic acid sequence identity=W/Z·100
where
W is the number of nucleotides cored as identical matches by the sequence alignment program's or algorithm's alignment of C and D
and
Z is the total number of nucleotides in D.
When the length of nucleic acid sequence C is not equal to the length of nucleic acid sequence D, the % nucleic acid sequence identity of C to D will not equal the % nucleic acid sequence identity of D to C.
Homologs (i.e., nucleic acids encoding MCM derived from species other than human) or other related sequences (e.g., paralogs) can be obtained by low, moderate or high stringency hybridization with all or a portion of the particular human sequence as a probe using methods well known in the art for nucleic acid hybridization and cloning.
The specificity of single stranded DNA to hybridize complementary fragments is determined by the “stringency” of the reaction conditions. Hybridization stringency increases as the propensity to form DNA duplexes decreases. In nucleic acid hybridization reactions, the stringency can be chosen to either favor specific hybridizations (high stringency), which can be used to identify, for example, full-length clones from a library. Less-specific hybridizations (low stringency) can be used to identify related, but not exact, DNA molecules (homologous, but not identical) or segments.
DNA duplexes are stabilized by: (1) the number of complementary base pairs, (2) the type of base pairs, (3) salt concentration (ionic strength) of the reaction mixture, (4) the temperature of the reaction, and (5) the presence of certain organic solvents, such as formamide which decreases DNA duplex stability. In general, the longer the probe, the higher the temperature required for proper annealing. A common approach is to vary the temperature: higher relative temperatures result in more stringent reaction conditions. (Ausubel et al., 1987) provide an excellent explanation of stringency of hybridization reactions.
To hybridize under “stringent conditions” describes hybridization protocols in which nucleotide sequences at least 60% homologous to each other remain hybridized. Generally, stringent conditions are selected to be about 5° C. lower than the thermal melting point (Tm) for the specific sequence at a defined ionic strength and pH. The Tm is the temperature (under defined ionic strength, pH and nucleic acid concentration) at which 50% of the probes complementary to the target sequence hybridize to the target sequence at equilibrium. Since the target sequences are generally present at excess, at Tm, 50% of the probes are occupied at equilibrium.
In addition to naturally-occurring allelic variants of MCM, changes can be introduced by mutation into SEQ ID NO:8 that incur alterations in the amino acid sequences of the encoded MCM that do not alter MCM function. For example, nucleotide substitutions leading to amino acid substitutions at “non-essential” amino acid residues can be made in the sequence of SEQ ID NOs:9 and 10. A “non-essential” amino acid residue is a residue that can be altered from the wild-type sequences of the MCM without altering their biological activity, whereas an “essential” amino acid residue is required for such biological activity. For example, amino acid residues that are conserved among the MCM of the invention are predicted to be particularly non-amenable to alteration. Amino acids for which conservative substitutions can be made are well known in the art. Useful conservative substitutions are shown in Table 4, “Preferred substitutions.” Conservative substitutions whereby an amino acid of one class is replaced with another amino acid of the same type fall within the scope of the subject invention so long as the substitution does not materially alter the biological activity of the compound. If such substitutions result in a change in biological activity, then more substantial changes, indicated in Table 5 as exemplary are introduced and the products screened for MCM polypeptide biological activity.
Non-conservative substitutions that affect (1) the structure of the polypeptide backbone, such as a β-sheet or α-helical conformation, (2) the charge or (3) hydrophobicity, or (4) the bulk of the side chain of the target site can modify MCM polypeptide function or immunological identity. Residues are divided into groups based on common side-chain properties as denoted in Table 5. Non-conservative substitutions entail exchanging a member of one of these classes for another class. Substitutions may be introduced into conservative substitution sites or more preferably into non-conserved sites.
The variant polypeptides can be made using methods known in the art such as oligonucleotide-mediated (site-directed) mutagenesis, alanine scanning, and PCR mutagenesis. Site-directed mutagenesis (Carter, 1986; Zoller and Smith, 1987), cassette mutagenesis, restriction selection mutagenesis (Wells et al., 1985) or other known techniques can be performed on the cloned DNA to produce the MCM variant DNA (Ausubel et al., 1987; Sambrook et al., 1989).
In one embodiment, the isolated nucleic acid molecule comprises a nucleotide sequence encoding a protein, wherein the polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence at least about 45%, preferably 60%, more preferably 64%, 65%, 66%, 67%, 68%, 69%, 70%, 80%, 90%, and most preferably about 95% homologous to SEQ ID NOs:9 and 10.
In general, a MCM variant that preserves MCM-like function and includes any variant in which residues at a particular position in the sequence have been substituted by other amino acids, and further includes the possibility of inserting an additional residue or residues between two residues of the parent protein as well as the possibility of deleting one or more residues from the parent sequence. Any amino acid substitution, insertion, or deletion is encompassed by the invention. In favorable circumstances, the substitution is a conservative substitution as defined above.
“MCM polypeptide variant” means an active MCM polypeptide having at least: (1) about 60%, more preferably 64%, amino acid sequence identity, with a full-length native sequence MCM polypeptide sequence, (2) a MCM polypeptide sequence lacking the signal peptide, (3) an extracellular domain of a MCM polypeptide, with or without the signal peptide, or (4) any other fragment of a full-length MCM polypeptide sequence. For example, MCM polypeptide variants include MCM polypeptides wherein one or more amino acid residues are added or deleted at the N— or C-terminus of the full-length native amino acid sequence. A MCM polypeptide variant will have at least about 60% amino acid sequence identity, preferably at least about 81 amino acid sequence identity, more preferably at least about 63%, 64%, 65%, 66%, 67%, 68%, 69%, 70%, 71%, 72%, 73%, 74%, 75%, 76%, 77%, 78%, 79%, 80%, 81%, 82%, 83%, 84%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% amino acid sequence identity and most preferably at least about 99% amino acid sequence identity with a full-length native sequence MCM polypeptide sequence. A MCM polypeptide variant may have a sequence lacking the signal peptide, an extracellular domain of a MCM polypeptide, with or without the signal peptide, or any other fragment of a full-length MCM polypeptide sequence. Ordinarily, MCM variant polypeptides are at least about 10 amino acids in length, often at least about 20 amino acids in length, more often at least about 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 150, 200, or 300 amino acids in length, or more.
“Percent (%) amino acid sequence identity” is defined as the percentage of amino acid residues that are identical with amino acid residues in the disclosed MCM polypeptide sequence in a candidate sequence when the two sequences are aligned. To determine % amino acid identity, sequences are aligned and if necessary, gaps are introduced to achieve the maximum % sequence identity; conservative substitutions are not considered as part of the sequence identity. Amino acid sequence alignment procedures to determine percent identity are well known to those of skill in the art. Often publicly available computer software such as BLAST, BLAST2, ALIGN2 or Megalign (DNASTAR) software is used to align peptide sequences. Those skilled in the art can determine appropriate parameters for measuring alignment, including any algorithms needed to achieve maximal alignment over the full length of the sequences being compared.
When amino acid sequences are aligned, the % amino acid sequence identity of a given amino acid sequence A to, with, or against a given amino acid sequence B (which can alternatively be phrased as a given amino acid sequence A that has or comprises a certain % amino acid sequence identity to, with, or against a given amino acid sequence B) can be calculated as:
% amino acid sequence identity=X/Y·100
where
X is the number of amino acid residues scored as identical matches by the sequence alignment program's or algorithm's alignment of A and B
and
Y is the total number of amino acid residues in B.
If the length of amino acid sequence A is not equal to the length of amino acid sequence B, the % amino acid sequence identity of A to B will not equal the % amino acid sequence identity of B to A.
Biologically active portions of MCM include peptides comprising amino acid sequences sufficiently homologous to or derived from the amino acid sequences of the MCM (SEQ ID NOs:9 and 10) that include fewer amino acids than the full-length MCM, and exhibit at least one activity of a MCM. Biologically active portions comprise a domain or motif with at least one activity of native MCM. A biologically active portion of a MCM can be a polypeptide that is, for example, 10, 25, 50, 100 or more amino acid residues in length. Other biologically active portions, in which other regions of the protein are deleted, can be prepared by recombinant techniques and evaluated for one or more of the functional activities of a native MCM.
Biologically active portions of MCM may have an amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NOs:9 and 10, or substantially homologous to SEQ ID NOs:9 and 10, and retains the functional activity of the protein of SEQ ID NOs:9 and 10, yet differs in amino acid sequence due to natural allelic variation or mutagenesis. Other biologically active MCM may comprise an amino acid sequence at least 45% homologous to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NOs:9 and 10, and retains the functional activity of native MCM.
Vectors act as tools to shuttle DNA between host cells or as a means to produce a large quantity of the DNA. Some vectors function only in prokaryotes, while others function in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, enabling large-scale DNA preparation from prokaryotes to expression in a eukaryote. Inserting the DNA of interest, such as MCM nucleotide sequence or a fragment, is accomplished by ligation techniques and/or transformation protocols well-known to the skilled artisan. Such DNA is inserted such that its integration does not disrupt any necessary components of the vector. In the case of vectors that are used to express the inserted DNA protein, the introduced DNA is operably linked to the vector elements that govern its transcription and translation.
Vectors often have a selectable marker that facilitates identifying those cells that have taken up the exogenous nucleic acids. Many selectable markers are well known in the art for the use with prokaryotes, usually antibiotic-resistance genes or the use of autotrophy and auxotrophy.
Vector choice is governed by the organism or cells being used and the desired fate of the vector. Vectors replicate once in the target cells or can be “suicide” vectors. In general, vectors comprise signal sequences, origins of replication, marker genes, enhancer elements, promoters, and transcription termination sequences. The choice of these elements depends on the organisms in which they are used and are easily determined by one of skill in the art. Some of these elements may be conditional, such as an inducible or conditional promoter that is turned “on” when conditions are appropriate. Examples of such promoters include tissue-specific, which relegate expression to certain cell types, steroid-responsive, heat-shock inducible, and prokaryotic promoters.
Methods of eukaryotic cell transfection and prokaryotic cell transformation are well known in the art and can be used to recombinantly produce MCM protein. The choice of host cell dictates the preferred technique for introducing the nucleic acid of interest. Introduction of nucleic acids into an organism can also be done with ex vivo techniques that use an in vitro method of transfection.
To monitor MCM gene expression or to facilitate biochemical purification, MCM nucleotide sequence can be fused to a heterologous peptide. These include reporter enzymes and epitope tags that are bound by specific antibodies.
(c) Increasing Translation
Any method known in the art to increase translation of MCM polynucleotides can be used. These include providing extra energy (e.g., sugars, starches, adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP) and the like) to the media, translation building blocks, such as purified, or partially purified amino acids or derivatives thereof, or even altering the temperature of the culture.
Proper expression in a prokaryotic cell also requires the presence of a ribosome binding site upstream of the gene sequence-encoding sequence. Such ribosome binding sites are known in the art, (see, e.g., (Gold et al., 1981)). The ribosome binding site and other sequences required for translation initiation are operably linked to the nucleic acid molecule coding for MCM by, for example, in frame ligation of synthetic oligonucleotides that contain such control sequences. The selection of control sequences, expression vectors, transformation methods, and the like, are dependent on the type of host cell used to express the gene.
(d) Other
Compounds that are amplifiers, transcription up-regulators, translation up-regulators or agonists, are effective to increase MCM activity Conversely, compounds that are de-amplifiers, transcription down-regulators, translation down-regulators or antagonists, are effective to increase MCM activity when these compounds act on negative regulators of MCM activity.
Decreasing Negative Regulator Activity
The transcription of negative regulators can be inhibited using means well known in the art. For example, DNA binding proteins such as zinc fingers are known to bind to and inhibit transcription of genes (see, e.g., (Barbas et al., 2000)). A preferred means for inhibiting negative regulator activity is to mutate the wild-type gene to express a reduced-activity mutant form, or to not express any gene at all. Promoter sequences operably linked to the regulator gene are also preferred targets to reduce or eliminate expression. Means for mutating genes are well known in the art; e.g. see (Ausubel et al., 1987; Sambrook et al., 1989).
Using antisense and sense MCM oligonucleotides can prevent MCM polypeptide expression. These oligonucleotides bind to target nucleic acid sequences, forming duplexes that block transcription or translation of the target sequence by enhancing degradation of the duplexes, terminating prematurely transcription or translation, or by other means.
Antisense or sense oligonucleotides are singe-stranded nucleic acids, either RNA or DNA, which can bind target MCM mRNA (sense) or MCM DNA (antisense) sequences and inhibit transcription, translation, or both of MCM. Anti-sense nucleic acids can be designed according to Watson and Crick or Hoogsteen base pairing rules. The anti-sense nucleic acid molecule can be complementary to the entire coding region of MCM mRNA, but more preferably, to only a portion of the coding or noncoding region of MCM mRNA. For example, the anti-sense oligonucleotide can be complementary to the region surrounding the translation start site of MCM mRNA. Antisense or sense oligonucleotides may comprise a fragment of the MCM DNA coding region of at least about 14 nucleotides, preferably from about 14 to 30 nucleotides. In general, antisense RNA or DNA molecules can comprise at least 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100 bases in length or more. Among others, (Stein and Cohen, 1988; van der Krol et al., 1988a) describe methods to derive antisense or a sense oligonucleotides from a given cDNA sequence.
Examples of modified nucleotides that can be used to generate the anti-sense nucleic acid include: 5-fluorouracil, 5-bromouracil, 5-chlorouracil, 5-iodouracil, hypoxanthine, xanthine, 4-acetylcytosine, 5-(carboxyhydroxylmethyl)uracil, 5-carboxymethylaminomethyl-2-thiouridine, 5-carboxymethylaminomethyluracil, dihydrouracil, beta-D-galactosylqueosine, inosine, N6-isopentenyladenine, 1-methylguanine, 1-methylinosine, 2,2-dimethylguanine, 2-methyladenine, 2-methylguanine, 3-methylcytosine, 5-methylcytosine, N6-adenine, 7-methylguanine, 5-methylaminomethyluracil, 5-methoxyaminomethyl-2-thiouracil, beta-D-mannosylqueosine, 5′-methoxycarboxymethyluracil, 5-methoxyuracil, 2-methylthio-N6-isopentenyladenine, uracil-5-oxyacetic acid (v), wybutoxosine, pseudouracil, queosine, 2-thiocytosine, 5-methyl-2-thiouracil, 2-thiouracil, 4-thiouracil, 5-methyluracil, uracil-5-oxyacetic acid methylester, uracil-5-oxyacetic acid (v), 5-methyl-2-thiouracil, 3-(3-amino-3-N-2-carboxypropyl)uracil, (acp3)w, and 2,6-diaminopurine. Alternatively, the anti-sense nucleic acid can be produced biologically using an expression vector into which a nucleic acid has been sub-cloned in an anti-sense orientation such that the transcribed RNA will be complementary to a target nucleic acid of interest.
To introduce antisense or sense oligonucleotides into target cells (cells containing the target nucleic acid sequence), any gene transfer method may be used. Examples of gene transfer methods include (1) biological, such as gene transfer vectors like Epstein-Barr virus, conjugating the exogenous DNA to a ligand-binding molecule, or by mating, (2) physical, such as electroporation and injection, and (3) chemical, such as CaPO4 precipitation and oligonucleotide-lipid complexes.
An antisense or sense oligonucleotide is inserted into a suitable gene transfer retroviral vector. A cell containing the target nucleic acid sequence is contacted with the recombinant retroviral vector, either in vivo or ex vivo. For eukaryotes, examples of suitable retroviral vectors include those derived from the murine retrovirus M-MuLV, N2 (a retrovirus derived from M-MuLV), or the double copy vectors designated DCT5A, DCT5B and DCT5C (1990b). For prokaryotes, a plethora of vectors are available, including those disclosed in the Examples (below), and classic plasmids including pBR322. Transposons can also be used. To achieve sufficient nucleic acid molecule transcription, vector constructs in which the transcription of the anti-sense nucleic acid molecule is controlled by a strong and/or inducible promoter are preferred.
A useful anti-sense nucleic acid molecule can be an α-anomeric nucleic acid molecule. An α-anomeric nucleic acid molecule forms specific double-stranded hybrids with complementary RNA in which, contrary to the usual α-units, the strands run parallel to each other (Gautier et al., 1987). The anti-sense nucleic acid molecule can also comprise a 2′-o-methylribonucleotide (Inoue et al., 1987a) or a chimeric RNA-DNA analogue (Inoue et al., 1987b).
In one embodiment, an anti-sense nucleic acid of the invention is a ribozyme. Ribozymes are catalytic RNA molecules with ribonuclease activity that are capable of cleaving a single-stranded nucleic acid, such as an mRNA, to which they have a complementary region. Thus, ribozymes, such as hammerhead ribozymes (Haseloff and Gerlach, 1988) can be used to catalytically cleave MCM mRNA transcripts and thus inhibit translation. A ribozyme specific for a MCM-encoding nucleic acid can be designed based on the nucleotide sequence of a MCM cDNA (i.e., SEQ ID NO:8). For example, a derivative of a Tetrahymena a L-19 IVS RNA can be constructed in which the nucleotide sequence of the active site is complementary to the nucleotide sequence to be cleaved in a MCM-encoding mRNA (Cech et al., 1992; Cech et al., 1991). MCM mRNA can also be used to select a catalytic RNA having a specific ribonuclease activity from a pool of RNA molecules (Bartel and Szostak, 1993).
Alternatively, MCM expression can be inhibited by targeting nucleotide sequences complementary to the regulatory region of the MCM (e.g., the MCM promoter and/or enhancers) to form triple helical structures that prevent transcription of the MCM in target cells (Helene, 1991; Helene et al., 1992; Maher, 1992).
Modifications of antisense and sense oligonucleotides can augment their effectiveness. Modified sugar-phosphodiester bonds or other sugar linkages (1991), increase in vivo stability by conferring resistance to endogenous nucleases without disrupting binding specificity to target sequences. Other modifications can increase the affinities of the oligonucleotides for their targets, such as covalently linked organic moieties (1990a) or poly-(L)-lysine. Other attachments modify binding specificities of the oligonucleotides for their targets, including metal complexes or intercalating (e.g. ellipticine) and alkylating agents.
For example, the deoxyribose phosphate backbone of the nucleic acids can be modified to generate peptide nucleic acids (Hyrup and Nielsen, 1996). “Peptide nucleic acids” or “PNAs” refer to nucleic acid mimics (e.g., DNA mimics) in that the deoxyribose phosphate backbone is replaced by a pseudopeptide backbone and only the four natural nucleobases are retained. The neutral backbone of PNAs allows for specific hybridization to DNA and RNA under conditions of low ionic strength. The synthesis of PNA oligomers can be performed using standard solid phase peptide synthesis protocols (Hyrup and Nielsen, 1996; Perry-O'Keefe et al., 1996).
PNAs of MCM can be used in therapeutic and diagnostic applications. For example, PNAs can be used as anti-sense or antigene agents for sequence-specific modulation of gene expression by inducing transcription or translation arrest or inhibiting replication. MCM PNAs may also be used in the analysis of single base pair mutations (e.g., PNA directed PCR clamping; as artificial restriction enzymes when used in combination with other enzymes, e.g., S1 nucleases (Hyrup and Nielsen, 1996); or as probes or primers for DNA sequence and hybridization (Hyrup and Nielsen, 1996; Perry-O'Keefe et al., 1996).
PNAs of MCM can be modified to enhance their stability or cellular uptake. Lipophilic or other helper groups may be attached to PNAs, PNA-DNA dimmers formed, or the use of liposomes or other drug delivery techniques. For example, PNA-DNA chimeras can be generated that may combine the advantageous properties of PNA and DNA. Such chimeras allow DNA recognition enzymes (e.g., RNase H and DNA polymerases) to interact with the DNA portion while the PNA portion provides high binding affinity and specificity. PNA-DNA chimeras can be linked using linkers of appropriate lengths selected in terms of base stacking, number of bonds between the nucleobases, and orientation (Hyrup and Nielsen, 1996). The synthesis of PNA-DNA chimeras can be performed (Finn et al., 1996; Hyrup and Nielsen, 1996). For example, a DNA chain can be synthesized on a solid support using standard phosphoramidite coupling chemistry, and modified nucleoside analogs, e.g., 5′-(4-methoxytrityl)amino-5′-deoxy-thymidine phosphoramidite, can be used between the PNA and the 5′ end of DNA (Finn et al., 1996; Hyrup and Nielsen, 1996). PNA monomers are then coupled in a stepwise manner to produce a chimeric molecule with a 5′ PNA segment and a 3′ DNA segment (Finn et al., 1996). Alternatively, chimeric molecules can be synthesized with a 5′ DNA segment and a 3′ PNA segment (Petersen et al., 1976).
The oligonucleotide may include other appended groups such as peptides (e.g., for targeting host cell receptors in vivo), or agents facilitating transport across the cell membrane (Lemaitre et al., 1987; Letsinger et al., 1989) or PCT Publication No. WO88/09810) or the blood-brain barrier (e.g., PCT Publication No. WO 89/10134). In addition, oligonucleotides can be modified with hybridization-triggered cleavage agents (van der Krol et al., 1988b) or intercalating agents (Zon, 1988). The oligonucleotide may be conjugated to another molecule, e.g., a peptide, a hybridization triggered cross-linking agent, a transport agent, a hybridization-triggered cleavage agent, and the like.
Cells
A cell can be a prokaryotic or eukaryotic cell. A preferred prokaryotic cell is a bacterial cell. Preferred and exemplary bacterial cells are Saccharopolyspora, Aeromicrobium and Streptomyces. Particularly preferred bacterial cells are Saccharopolyspora erythraea, Aeromicrobium erythreum, Streptomyces fradiae, Streptomyces avermitilis, Streptomyces cinnamonensis, Streptomyces antibioticus, Streptomyces venezuelae, Streptomyces violaceoniger, Streptomyces hygroscopicus, Streptomyces spp. FR-008, and Streptomyces griseus. These an other bacterial strains are available from American Type Tissue Collection (ATCC); Manassus, Va.) and Northern Regional Research Laboratory (Peoria, Ill.). Examples of just some, not all, useful strains are shown in Table 6.
Any eukaryotic cell can be used, although mammalian cells are preferred. Primary culture cells, as well as cell lines (available from the ATCC are useful, although cell lines are preferred because of their immortality and ease of manipulation.
Suitable media and conditions for growing the modified bacteria include using SCM and Insoluble Production Medium (IPM; typically 22 g soy flour, 15 g corn starch, 3 g CaCO3, 0.5 g MgSO4.7H2O and 15 mg FeSO4.7H2O/liter). However, any media which supports the increased activity of MCM can be used. A key factor, however, is the use of an unrefined soy source, such as soy flour. Media that are used industrially are especially preferred. Numerous formulations are known in the art; e.g., see (Ausubel et al., 1987).
An important aspect of the present invention is the presence or absence of soybean oil. In most instances, the use of soybean oil is preferred. However, when used, the concentration (v/v) is about 1% to 10%, preferably 2.5% to 7%, more preferably 4% to 6%, and most preferably 5%. If oil is omitted from the medium, then starch content is preferably increased. Typically, a 1.5- to 10-fold increase, preferably a 2- to 7-fold, more preferably 3- to 5-fold, and most preferably, a 4-fold increase.
Another aspect of the invention includes embodiments wherein the cultures are agitated more than typically. Agitation, in any case, is desired to increase culture aeration. In shaker flasks cultures, agitations can be 100 rpm to 1000; preferably 200 to 750 rpm, more preferably 350 to 500 rpm, and most preferably 400 rpm; in these examples, displacement used for shaking is approximately one inch. The mode of agitation can vary; those of skill in the art can translate these agitation conditions to the vessels and methods of agitation for their particular situation.
Temperature is also regulated; typically for S. erythraea, a temperature of 32° C. is preferred. Humidity is also regulated; for example, incubator humidity controls can be set to 50% to 100%, preferably 60% to 80%, and most preferably 65%.
The following example is for illustrative purposes only and should not be interpreted as limitations of the claimed invention. There are a variety of alternative techniques and procedures available to those of skill in the art which would similarly permit one to successfully perform the intended invention.
Bacterial Strains and Culture Conditions
The bacterial strains and plasmids used in this study are shown in Table 7. Saccharopolyspora erythraea ATCC 11635. S. erythraea FL2267 is a derivative of ATCC 11635, an industrial erythromycin-producing strain, that was generated by eviction of an integrated plasmid and reversion to the wild-type thiostrepton-sensitive phenotype. FL1347 is a low erythromycin-producing red variant of ATCC 11635 generated at Fermalogic, Inc. (Chicago, Ill.) by spontaneous mutation. The white wild-type strain and derivatives were cultured on E20A agar plates (E20A per liter tap water: 5 g, bacto soytone; 5 g, bacto soluble starch; 3 g, CaCO3, 2.1 g 3-(N-Morpholino)propanesulfonic acid (MOPS); 20 g, Difco agar (Becton-Dickinson; Franklin Lakes, N.J.); after autoclaving added 1 ml of thiamine (1.0% solution) and 1 ml of FeSO4 (1.2% solution)) or R2T2 agar (Weber et al., 1990). Red variants were cultured on R2T2 agar. For liquid culture cells were grown in Soluble Complete Medium (SCM) pH 6.8, (McAlpine et al., 1987); SCM per liter: 15 g soluble starch; 20 g bacto soytone (soybean peptone; Becton-Dickinson); 0.1 g calcium chloride; 1.5 g yeast extract; 10.5 g MOPS). For experiments with minimal media AVMM was used (Weber and McAlpine, 1992). Sole carbon sources, such as methylmalonic acid, sucrose and glucose were added to a final concentration of 50 mM. Ammonium sulfate was used as the sole nitrogen source at a final concentration of 7.5 mM. Escherichia coli DH5α-e (Invitrogen; Carlsbad, Calif.) was routinely grown in SOB or 2×YT liquid media and maintained on SOB or 2×YT agar (Sambrook et al., 1989). For agar plate bioassays the thiostrepton-resistant Bacillus subtilis PY79 was used as the indicator strain (Weber et al., 1990). When appropriate for growth of drug-resistant S. erythraea, solid and liquid media were supplemented with either thiostrepton at a final concentration of 10 μg/ml or kanamycin sulfate at a final concentration of 50 μg/ml (Sigma-Aldrich; St. Louis, Mo.). E. coli media were supplemented with 50 μg/ml kanamycin sulfate or 100 μg/ml ampicillin sodium salt (Sigma-Aldrich) for selection and maintenance of recombinant plasmids.
Plasmid Constructions
pFL2132, polar knockout plasmid To generate a knockout in mutB, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approach was used. Primers were designed so that two non-contiguous fragments spanning the mutAB gene region were amplified. Primer pair A, 5′-gaattcCCGTGCGCCCGTTCGACGC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:1) and 5′-ggatccGTGTTGCGGGCGATGCGCG-3′ (SEQ ID NO:2; lowercase letters indicate engineered sequences containing restriction sites), generated a 1997 base-pair (bp) product that spanned from mutA to the middle of mutB (Reeves et al., 2004). Primer pair B, aagcttAGCGTGTCCAGGCCCGCTC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:3) and 5′-ggatccGACGCAGGCGCGCATCGACT-3′ (SEQ ID NO:4; lowercase letters indicate engineered sequences containing restriction sites) generated a 1666 bp product that spanned from mutB to near the end of meaB (Reeves et al., 2004). The region of discontiguity was 126 bp, located near the middle of mutB. Restriction sites were engineered at the 5′ ends of each primer pair to facilitate later cloning steps. Both PCR products were cloned directly into pGEM® T easy.
To generate the knockout plasmid pFL2132, a four-component ligation reaction was performed. This consisted of pFL8 digested with EcoRI and HindIII (Reeves et al., 2002), the kanamycin resistance gene cassette from Tn903 (Pharmacia Biochemicals; Piscataway, N.J.) digested with BamHI and the two PCR products released from pGEM® T easy. An EcoRI+BamHI digest was used in the case of the 1997 bp fragment and a BamHI+HindIII digest in the case of the 1666 bp fragment. E. coli was transformed by electroporation and recombinants were selected for kanamycin and ampicillin resistance. Plasmids were confirmed for the correct inserts by restriction digestion and sequence analysis.
pFL2179, in-frame deletion plasmid To generate an in-frame mutB deletion mutant, pFL2132 was digested with BamHI to release a unique 1263 bp fragment consisting entirely of the kanamycin resistance gene cassette. The remaining larger fragment was purified from an agarose gel and re-ligated using T4 DNA ligase (Fermentas; Vilnius, Lithuania). The truncated plasmid was transformed into E. coli. Single ampicillin-resistant colonies were replica patched onto SOB agar containing kanamycin and ampicillin. Isolates that were ampicillin-resistant but kanamycin-sensitive were further analyzed. Ten plasmids from kanamycin-sensitive isolates were digested with BamHI and HindIII to confirm the loss of the kanamycin resistance gene cassette. This plasmid contains a 126 bp deletion in mutB along with an engineered BamHI site (6 bp) to maintain the reading frame of the gene.
pFL2121, meaB knockout plasmid Construction of a meaB knockout plasmid was performed using a PCR approach. Oligonucleotide primers were designed to amplify a 742 bp internal region of meaB. The primer sequences were as follows (lowercase letters indicate engineered sequences containing restriction sites): 5′-gtcgaattcAGCACCGCGCGAAAGCCCAG-3′ (SEQ ID NO:5) and 5′-gtcaagcttTAAGCTGGAGCAGCTGCTAC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:6). Following purification, the PCR product was cloned directly into pGEM® T easy as described above. The meaB fragment, released by EcoRI and HindIII digestion, was sub-cloned into the S. erythraea integration vector pFL8 (Reeves et al., 2002), which had been previously digested with the same enzymes. This plasmid was designated pFL2121 (Table 7). Transformation of pFL2121 DNA into S. erythraea strain FL2267 was performed as described below. The S. erythraea FL2267 containing integrated pFL2121 was designated FL2320 (Table 7). pFL2212 plasmid was used to duplicate the methylmalonyl-CoA region in the S. erythraea chromosome. The entire S. erythraea methylmalonyl-CoA mutase operon was cloned from a cosmid as a 6.791 kb EcoRI/BamHI fragment into pFL8 cut with the same enzymes (Reeves et al., 2002). The cloned fragment was confirmed by sequence analysis and restriction digestion. The plasmid DNA was introduced into S. erythraea wild-type strain FL2267 by protoplast transformation with selection for thiostrepton resistance. Spores of putative thiostrepton-resistant transformants from separate transformations were tested in a second round of thiostrepton selection by plating on E20A agar plates and growing in SCM broth containing thiostrepton at a final concentration of 15 μg/ml. Chromosomal DNA was prepared from five different isolates for PCR analysis to confirm the integration of the plasmid. All five isolates gave the expected PCR product. The S. erythraea strains containing a duplicate copy of the mmCoA mutase operon was designated FL2385.
Generation of mutB mutants Five types of mutB mutants were generated in this study. These consisted of the three, single crossover mutants generated by integration of pFL2107, pFL2132 and pFL2179, and the double crossover (gene replacement) mutants generated by eviction of pFL2132 and pFL2179 with retention in the chromosome of the mutated copy of mutB. All subsequent results described below for the white strain derivatives were obtained from strains derived by gene replacement of the mutated copy of mutB. These mutants were advantageous for several reasons, the main ones being: (i) the permanence or stability of the mutation during growth; and (ii) isolation of the mutation to only the mutB reading frame in the case of S. erythraea strain FL2302. Analysis of the white strain single crossover mutants was taken into account but was not involved in the final interpretation of the results since these types of mutations do not necessarily knock out a gene. Results obtained in the red strain were from a single crossover knockout strain generated by integration of pFL2107 (FL2155; Table 7). Transformations of pFL2132 and pFL2179 were performed with selection for thiostrepton resistance. These transformations generated the single crossover mutants FL2272 and FL2294, respectively. After confirmation of plasmid integration, cells were subjected to a plasmid eviction procedure to generate both double crossover (gene replacement) mutants as well as wild type revertant strains. The gene replacement strains containing the kanamycin resistance gene cassette inserted into mutB was designated FL2281 and the in-frame deletion strain was designated FL2302.
Transformations Protoplast transformation of the S. erythraea wild type (white) strain is known to be difficult to perform successfully, in contrast to red variant strains. To increase the likelihood of transforming the S. erythraea wild-type strain a new host strain was generated. The ATCC 11635 derivative, FL2267, a wild type revertant, was used in all transformations. This strain was generated from eviction of integrated pARR11, a S. erythraea vector inserted into the chromosome by single crossover integration of homologous DNA (Table 7; (Reeves et al., 2002; Weber and Losick, 1988)). Putative evictants were streaked for single colonies onto E20A agar plates and allowed to sporulate. Individual colonies were replica patched onto fresh E20A agar plates containing thiostrepton at 10 μg/ml or no antibiotic to test for loss of the plasmid. Isolates that were confirmed to be thiostrepton sensitive were later used as hosts in protoplast transformations. Protoplast transformations using pFL2132 and pFL2179 DNA (10 μg total) were performed as described (Reeves et al., 2002), using either thiostrepton (final concentration of 8 μg/ml) or kanamycin sulfate (final concentration of 10 μg/ml) as the selection agent.
Fermentations Shake flask fermentations were performed in SCM (“medium 1;” (McAlpine et al., 1987)), SCM +5% v/v soybean oil (medium 2), SCM+4× soluble starch (medium 3) and SCM+4× starch and 5% v/v soy oil (medium 4). Cultures were incubated at 32.5° C. for 5 days at 350 rpm to 425 rpm. The fermentations were performed on an INFORS minitron (ATR; Laurel, Md.) with humidity control. Humidity was set at 65% throughout the incubation period.
Bioassay for erythromycin production Bioassays for the determination of erythromycin production of shake flask cultures was performed as described (Reeves et al., 2002).
Phenotype testing S. erythraea mutB mutants were tested for various phenotypes on E20A agar and minimal medium AVMM agar (Weber and McAlpine, 1992; (Reeves et al., 2004)). Growth on methylmalonic acid as sole carbon source was tested on AVMM agar supplemented with 50 mM methylmalonic acid (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, Mo.). Pigment production was tested on AVMM agar supplemented with 50 mM glucose and R2T2 agar. The ability to form aerial mycelia and to sporulate was tested on E20A agar.
Statistical analysis t-Tests and probability values were calculated for 95% confidence intervals using interactive software (Uitenbroek, 2005).
Previous results from S. erythraea red variant mutB mutants showed a pleiotropic effect of the mutation. In those strains, major phenotypic differences were observed in the mutants compared to the parent strain in their ability to: (i) produce diffusible red pigment; (ii) grow on methylmalonic acid as the sole carbon source; and (iii) form aerial mycelia followed by complete septation of spores.
The same experiments were performed with the white S. erythraea mutB mutant strains. Cells of FL2281 and FL2302, along with parent and single crossover strains as controls, were plated onto four different plates: (i) E20A (a rich medium) and three separate AVMM plates containing either (ii) glucose, (iii) methylmalonic acid, or (iv) glucose and succinate as sole carbon sources. As observed with the red variant mutB mutants, both types of white strain mutant exhibited the same pleiotropic effects of the mutation. Both FL2281 and FL2302 were unable to grow on methylmalonic acid as sole carbon source. The wild type strain and wild type revertant strains grew well, indicating fully functional mutase activity. A single crossover strain showed poor growth, indicating a decrease in mutase activity.
Diffusible red pigment production was lost in all the mutant strains. Pigment production was observed in the wild type strain and, importantly, it was restored in the wild type revertant strains.
Sporulation was also affected in both types of mutB mutants. In a simple test for spore formation, the wild type and mutB mutant strain were spread on half of the same E20A agar plate as a lawn and allowed to grow for 10 days at 33° C., more than enough time for complete sporulation. After incubation, the spores were scraped and transferred with a wooden stick to 1 ml of water. The wild type spores disbursed evenly and quickly without vortexing. The spores of the mutB mutant formed clumps on both the wooden stick and in liquid. No dispersal occurred even after vigorous vortexing for 1 minute.
In these experiments, the ability of the mutated strains to produce erythromycin was tested. Shake flask fermentations were performed on mutB mutants to first determine whether the mutation increased erythromycin production. The results of these experiments were used to optimize antibiotic production by implementing process improvements. Process improvements that were implemented once an increase in production was observed in mutB mutants were the addition of three-fold more soluble starch and the elimination of soybean oil. Shaker speed was increased from 350 rpm to 390 rpm.
Initial fermentations consisted of shake flask cultures of S. erythraea wild type strain and mutB mutant in medium 2 (SCM+5% soybean oil). Cultures were incubated at 32.5° C. for 5 days at 350 rpm with humidity at a constant 65%. Shake flasks were inoculated with a 2-day seed culture at a 1:10 dilution, and the results are shown in
It was not known what effect omitting soybean oil in the medium would have on mutB strains since soybean oil has been suggested to be involved in both erythromycin precursor feeding and in increasing cell density (Li et al., 2004). However, when cells were grown in the absence of soybean oil (medium 1), the difference in erythromycin production between the parent strain and the mutB mutant was dramatic. The wild-type strain produced significantly less erythromycin (about 67%) in medium 1 when compared to the production of the strain cultured in medium 2, as shown in
When the wild-type and mutB strains were grown in medium 1 and medium 2 during the same fermentation, the same trend in erythromycin production levels as again observed, as shown in
Since mutB mutants do not benefit from the addition of soybean oil, starch content of the medium was increased to provide additional carbon sources that are missing when soybean oil is omitted. The overall effect on erythromycin production, particularly in the mutB mutant, was dramatic, as shown in
In the fermentations described above, only the mutB mutant FL2281 was tested since the in-frame deletion strain was not available at that time. FL2281 contains an insertion of the aph1 gene (conferring kanamycin resistance) within the mutB gene that would be expected to be polar on the two known and presumably coupled downstream genes (meaB and gntR (SEQ ID NOs:7 and 11).
The sequence of the S. erythraea mmCoA region was used as the basis for cloning the entire region including two downstream ORFs, designated meaB and gntR (GenBank Accession No AY117133; SEQ ID NO:8, shown in Table 2). A map of the region is shown in
S. erythraea protoplasts were transformed with pFL2212 with selection for thiostrepton antibiotic resistance, indicating introduction of the construct. Wild type strain FL2267 was transformed with varying amounts of pFL2212 DNA (concentration at 0.5 μg/ml) ranging from 5 μg (10 μl) to 10 μg (20 μl). After a 24 hour incubation period at 32° C. protoplasts, were overlaid with thiostrepton at a final concentration of 8 μg/ml. Confluent regeneration and sporulation was only seen in the sectors that were transformed with pFL2212. Thiostrepton-resistant spores were then harvested from the regeneration plates into 20% glycerol and plated onto solid agar (E20A) containing thiostrepton and again selected for strains containing integrated pFL2212. After incubating cultures for ten days, single thiostrepton-resistant colonies were isolated and used for testing in shake flask fermentation. These strains were designated FL2385.
S. erythraea wild type and over-expression strains were grown in IPM+oil and SCM media for 5 days at 32° C. The over-expression strain produced significantly more erythromycin in the IPM media compared to the wild type strain, as shown in
In addition to generating the over-expression strain, a knockout strain in gntR, encoding a putative transcriptional regulator is generated. The plasmid construct is generated by amplifying two regions: PCR1 and PCR2. PCR1 is 512 bp, covering part of the upstream meaB gene and PCR 2 is 482 bp, spanning all but 6 bp of the gntR ORF as well as some downstream sequences. Restriction sites (e.g., EcoRI and HindIII) are engineered at the 5′ ends of the primers to facilitate cloning into the integrative vector pFL8. A four-component ligation is performed with PCR 1, PCR 2, pFL8 and the kanamycin-resistance gene. E. coli are transformed with the ligation mixture and recombinants are selected on 2×YT media (Sambrook et al., 1989) containing kanamycin and X-gal indicator. Candidate recombinant (white, kanamycin-resistant) isolates are confirmed using restriction digests.
S. erythraea FL2267 protoplasts are then transformed with pFL2123 and selected for kanamycin resistance. Kanamycin is used as the selection agent since gene replacement strains might be obtained in one step as opposed to a two-step process if thiostrepton is used. Transformants are tested on replica plates containing kanamycin or thiostrepton to determine the type of recombination event that occurred.
Transformants are then tested in shake flask fermentations to determine the effect of the mutation on erythromycin production. If gntR is a negative regulator, then its absence results in an increase in erythromycin production; if gntR is a positive regulator, then the opposite effect is observed.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application 60/710,412, filed Aug. 22, 2005, entitled METHODS OF INCREASING PRODUCTION OF BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE MOLECULES BY MANIPULATING METHYLMALONYL-COA MUTASE, the entirety of which is herein incorporated by reference.
The subject matter of this application may in part have been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Grant No. R43GM58943, “Antibiotic Regulatory Genes and Metabolic Engineering” and Grant No. R43GM063278-01, “Antibiotic Gene Clusters.” The government may have certain rights in this invention.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60710412 | Aug 2005 | US |
