Monooxygenase LaPhzX is Involved in Self-Resistance Mechanisms during the Biosynthesis of N-Oxide Phenazine Myxin.

Self-resistance genes are deployed by many microbial producers of bioactive natural products to avoid self-toxicity. Myxin, a di-N-oxide phenazine produced by Lysobacter antibioticus OH13, is toxic to many microorganisms and tumor cells. Here, we uncovered a self-defense strategy featuring the antibiotic biosynthesis monooxygenase (ABM) family protein LaPhzX for myxin degradation. The gene LaPhzX is located in the myxin biosynthetic gene cluster (LaPhz), and its deletion resulted in bacterial mutants that are more sensitive to myxin. In addition, the LaPhzX mutants showed increased myxin accumulation and reduction of its derivative, compound 4, compared to the wild-type strain. Meanwhile, in vitro biochemical assays demonstrated that LaPhzX significantly degraded myxin in the presence of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH), nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), flavin mononucleotide (FMN), and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). In addition, heterologous expression of LaPhzX in Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae and Escherichia coli increased their resistance to myxin. Overall, our work illustrates a monooxygenase-mediated self-resistance mechanism for phenazine antibiotic biosynthesis.