Mutational Analysis of the Thienamycin Biosynthetic Gene Cluster fromStreptomyces cattleya

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe generation of non-thienamycin-producing mutants with mutations in thethnL,thnN,thnO, andthnIgenes within thethngene cluster fromStreptomyces cattleyaand their involvement in thienamycin biosynthesis and regulation were previously reported. Four additional mutations were independently generated in thethnP,thnG,thnR, andthnTgenes by insertional inactivation. Only the first two genes were found to play a role in thienamycin biosynthesis, since these mutations negatively or positively affect antibiotic production. A mutation ofthnPresults in the absence of thienamycin production, whereas a 2- to 3-fold increase in thienamycin production was observed for thethnGmutant. On the other hand, mutations inthnRandthnTshowed that although these genes were previously reported to participate in this pathway, they seem to be nonessential for thienamycin biosynthesis, as thienamycin production was not affected in these mutants. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of all available mutants revealed some putative intermediates in the thienamycin biosynthetic pathway. A compound with a mass corresponding to carbapenam-3-carboxylic acid was detected in some of the mutants, suggesting that the assembly of the bicyclic nucleus of thienamycin might proceed in a way analogous to that of the simplest natural carbapenem, 1-carbapen-2-em-3-carboxylic acid biosynthesis. The accumulation of a compound with a mass corresponding to 2,3-dihydrothienamycin in thethnGmutant suggests that it might be the last intermediate in the biosynthetic pathway. These data, together with the establishment of cross-feeding relationships by the cosynthesis analysis of the non-thienamycin-producing mutants, lead to a proposal for some enzymatic steps during thienamycin assembly.