Planta Med 2016; 82 - PC26
DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1578728

Discovery Of New Products Of Polyketide Biosynthesis From The NPDI Culture Collection

JA Clement 1, AD Dombrowski 1, JM Sigmund 1, JO Ondeyka 1, TL Gill 1, WA Kinney 1, SF Brady 2, Z Charlop-Powers 2, MA Goetz 1
  • 1Natural Products Discovery Institute, Baruch S. Blumberg Institute, 3805 Old Easton Rd, Doylestown, PA, 18902, USA
  • 2Laboratory of Genetically Encoded Small Molecules, Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY, 10065, USA

Current genomic tools make it possible to detect biosynthetic pathways in actinomycetes that might correspond to the production of known compounds or new derivatives thereof. A library of actinomycete genomic DNA representing 4,000 individual cultures in the NPDI collection was probed for gene sequences corresponding to biosynthetic pathways for a number of known products. On the basis of these probe experiments, several cultures were selected for fermentation studies to determine if products in the expected classes were produced. We have successfully detected the production of new derivatives of both borrelidin and tiacumicin B, and we have identified a producer of the rare macrolactam antibiotic BE-14106. These early results clearly show the potential for the combined application of genomic analyses and culture media studies for the discovery of new natural products.

Fig. 1