Streptomyces clavuligerus
Streptomyces clavuligerus
Streptomyces clavuligerus was originally isolated from a South American soil sample for its ability to produce cephalosporins. Today, it is used in industry for the production of cephamycin C and clavulanic acid (1, 2, 3). S. clavuligerus differs from most other Streptomyces in that the wildtype is unable to take up sufficient amounts of glucose for it to utilise it as a sole carbon source (4). This has been attributed to the low expression levels of the glucose uptake protein, glucose permease, encoded by glcP (5). This is despite the glcP gene and the glucokinase gene, (glk), being present on the genome. The combination of the glucose permease and glucokinase has been shown to function as the main glucose uptake system in the model organism S. coelicolor(6,7).
Cultivation
Unlike most Streptomyces, S. clavuligerus does not sporulate on SFM medium but can be grown on GYM medium for sporulation. Aside from GYM, wildtype grows well on TSB agar and nutrient agar.
For cultivation in liquid, TSB medium gives the best result for dispersed growth. For growth curves in liquid, it is best to heat-active spores for 10 minutes at 50° prior to pre-germing for 12 - 24 hours (usually 10 ml of medim). Absorbance measurement readings at 600 nm wavelength can be used up until roughly 48 hours into the growth curve, cell dry weight, however, will give a more accurate result.
Protocols
Media recipes:
- GYM medium
- TSB agar and liquid medium
- Nutrient agar
Conjugation
References
- Higgens, C. E. and Kastner, R. E. (1971) ‘Streptomyces clavuligerus sp. nov., a β-lactam antibiotic producer’, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. Microbiology Society, 21(4), pp. 326–331.
- Howarth, T. T., Brown, A. G. and King, T. J. (1976) ‘Clavulanic acid, a novel β-lactam isolated from Streptomyces clavuligerus; X-ray crystal structure analysis’, Journal of the Chemical Society, Chemical Communications. Royal Society of Chemistry, (7), p. 266b–267.
- Jensen, S. E. and Paradkar, A. S. (1999) ‘Biosynthesis and molecular genetics of clavulanic acid’, Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek. Springer, 75(1), pp. 125–133.
- Garcia-Dominguez, M., Martin, J. F. and Liras, P. (1989) ‘Characterization of sugar uptake in wild-type Streptomyces clavuligerus, which is impaired in glucose uptake, and in a glucose-utilizing mutant.’, Journal of bacteriology. Am Soc Microbiol, 171(12), pp. 6808–6814.
- Pérez-Redondo, R., Santamarta, I., Bovenberg, R., Martín, J. F. and Liras, P. (2010) ‘The enigmatic lack of glucose utilization in Streptomyces clavuligerus is due to inefficient expression of the glucose permease gene’, Microbiology. Microbiology Society, 156(5), pp. 1527–1537.
- Van Wezel, G. P., Mahr, K., König, M., Traag, B. A., Pimentel‐Schmitt, E. F., Willimek, A. and Titgemeyer, F. (2005) ‘GlcP constitutes the major glucose uptake system of Streptomyces coelicolor A3 (2)’, Molecular microbiology. Wiley Online Library, 55(2), pp. 624–636.
- Van Wezel, G. P., König, M., Mahr, K., Nothaft, H., Thomae, A. W., Bibb, M. and Titgemeyer, F. (2007) ‘A new piece of an old jigsaw: glucose kinase is activated posttranslationally in a glucose transport-dependent manner in Streptomyces coelicolor A3 (2)’, Journal of molecular microbiology and biotechnology. Karger Publishers, 12(1–2), pp. 67–74.
