Investigation of Interspecies Interactions within Marine Micromonosporaceae Using an Improved Co-Culture Approach

With respect to bacterial natural products, a significant outcome of the genomic era was that the biosynthetic potential in many microorganisms surpassed the number of compounds isolated under standard laboratory growth conditions, particularly among certain members in the phylum Actinobacteria. Our group, as well as others, investigated interspecies interactions, via co-culture, as a technique to coax bacteria to produce novel natural products. While co-culture provides new opportunities, challenges exist and questions surrounding these methods remain unanswered. In marine bacteria, for example, how prevalent are interspecies interactions and how commonly do interactions result in novel natural products? In an attempt to begin to answer basic questions surrounding co-culture of marine microorganisms, we have tested both antibiotic activity-based and LC/MS-based methods to evaluate Micromonosporaceae secondary metabolite production in co-culture. Overall, our investigation of 65 Micromonosporaceae led to the identification of 12 Micromonosporaceae across three genera that produced unique metabolites in co-culture. Our results suggest that interspecies interactions were prevalent between marine Micromonosporaceae and marine mycolic acid-containing bacteria. Furthermore, our approach highlights a sensitive and rapid method for investigating interspecies interactions in search of novel antibiotics, secondary metabolites, and genes.     

小单孢菌科研究进展

小单孢菌科菌是一类分布广泛、生长缓慢但可产生多种抗生素的稀有放线菌。本文主要从分布情况、分类地位、分离方法和产抗生素等方面介绍了小单孢菌科的研究进展,并基于16SrRNA基因序列对其典型菌属(小单孢菌属)的进化关系,以及该属菌株的培养特征、生理生化特性进行了分析,还对小单孢菌科菌在分离新型抗菌药物及抗肿瘤抗生素方面的研究方向进行了展望。