engleski

Streptomyces: Twisted bacteria in nature and biotechnology

Streptomyces is the largest genus within the phylum Actinobacteria. These filamentous gram- positive bacteria have a complex and tightly regulated life cycle that involves the formation of vegetative hyphae that differentiate further into a chains of spores. Streptomycetes contain linear chromosome with a large number of functional genes which allow them to adapt to diverse environments. However, these bacteria are the best known as potent producers of various pharmacologically important compounds, including more than two- thirds of the natural antibiotics used in medicine, veterinary and agriculture. Moreover, whole genome sequencing of streptomycetes revealed a remarkable number of silent gene clusters thus emphasizing their capacity to produce novel biologically active small molecules. Due to this potential these bacteria are being studied even more intensively. We are interested in studying some fundamental cellular processes which are important for bacterial growth and antibiotic production. The results of our research provide novel insights into biological role of paralogous single- stranded DNA binding (SSB) proteins While SsbA is indispensable for survival, SsbB has a key role in chromosome segregation during spore formation. In addition, we found that deletion of SsbB and one of his interacting protein can significantly increase antibiotic production. Finally, the results of proteome and phosphoproteome analyses performed on selected Streptomyces strains gave us insight into the dynamics of protein synthesis and phosphorylation events during bacterial growth and antibiotic production. The results obtained so far provide novel insight into the regulatory mechanisms that control antibiotic synthesis and could have major effects on the level of its production.

Streptomyces, spore formation, SSB proteins

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