Heterologous expression of metK1-sp and afsR-sp in Streptomyces venezuelae for the production of pikromycin

Two regulator genes, metK1-sp and afsR-sp, from Streptomyces peucetius ATCC 27952 were heterologously expressed in S. venezuelae ATCC 15439, to produce 14-membered pikromycin antibiotics. The production of pikromycin was increased by 1.6-fold and 2.6-fold by the expression of metK1-sp and afsR-sp, respectively. The overexpression of metK1-sp and afsR-sp in S. venezuelae stimulated the expression of the pathway-specific regulatory genes, pikD and ketosynthase, as demonstrated by RT-PCR. The elevated transcripts of the pikD and ketosynthase genes were consistent with the enhanced production of pikromycin.