RNase III Is Required for Actinomycin Production in Streptomyces antibioticus

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Junghoon Lee, Emory University; Marcha L. Gatewood, Emory University; George H Jones, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2013-10
• Publisher: American Society for Microbiology
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2013, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://aem.asm.org/content/79/20/6447
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Applied and Environmental Microbiology
• Volume: 79
• Issue: 20
• Start Page: 6447
• End Page: 6451
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported by grant no. MCB-0817177 from the National Science Foundation.
• Research Categories: Biology, Microbiology

Abstract

Using insertional mutagenesis, we have disrupted the RNase III gene, rnc, of the actinomycin-producing streptomycete, Streptomyces antibioticus. Disruption was verified by Southern blotting. The resulting strain grows more vigorously than its parent on actinomycin production medium but produces significantly lower levels of actinomycin. Complementation of the rnc disruption with the wild-type rnc gene from S. antibioticus restored actinomycin production to nearly wild-type levels. Western blotting experiments demonstrated that the disruptant did not produce full-length or truncated forms of RNase III. Thus, as is the case in Streptomyces coelicolor, RNase III is required for antibiotic production in S. antibioticus. No differences in the chemical half-lives of bulk mRNA were observed in a comparison of the S. antibioticus rnc mutant and its parental strain.