Reporter-Guided Transposon Mutant Selection for Activation of Silent Gene Clusters in Burkholderia thailandensis

Dainan Mao, Aya Yoshimura, Rurun Wang, Mohammad R. Seyedsayamdost

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Most natural product biosynthetic gene clusters that can be observed bioinformatically are silent. This insight has prompted the development of several methodologies for inducing their expression. One of the more recent methods, termed reporter-guided mutant selection (RGMS), entails creation of a library of mutants that is then screened for the desired phenotype via reporter gene expression. Herein, we apply a similar approach to Burkholderia thailandensis and, using transposon mutagenesis, mutagenize three strains, each carrying a fluorescent reporter in the malleilactone (mal), capistruin (cap), or an unidentified ribosomal peptide (tomm) gene cluster. We show that even a small library of <500 mutants can be used to induce expression of each cluster. We also explore the mechanism of activation and find that inhibition of pyrimidine biosynthesis is linked to the induction of the mal cluster. Both a transposon insertion into pyrF as well as small-molecule-mediated inhibition of PyrF trigger malleilactone biosynthesis. Our results pave the way toward the broad application of RGMS and related approaches to Burkholderia spp.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1826-1831
Number of pages6
JournalChemBioChem
Volume21
Issue number13
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2020

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Molecular Medicine
  • Molecular Biology
  • Biochemistry
  • Organic Chemistry

Keywords

  • Burkholderia thailandensis
  • biosynthesis
  • natural products
  • silent gene cluster
  • transposon mutagenesis

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Reporter-Guided Transposon Mutant Selection for Activation of Silent Gene Clusters in Burkholderia thailandensis'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this