Effect on Production of Avermectins of Spore Pigment Biosynthesis in Streptomyces avermitilis NRRL8165
阿维链霉菌孢子色素生物合成对阿维菌素产量的影响

The flanking fragments of the whiEa gene cluster was PCR amplified, cloned and used to construct the gene replacement plasmid pHL643. pHL643 was conjugated into Streptomyces avermitilis NRRL8165 followed by screening for double crossover event, yielding three apramycin resistance and thiostrepton sensitive isolates named ZJ1, ZJ2 and ZJ3, which were deficient in biosynthesis of the grey spore pigment. The whiEa gene replacement of these isolates was confirmed by Southern hybridization. Fermentation of the mutant strains in shaking flasks and HPLC analyses showed that the production of avermectins increased by 47% compared with that of the wild type, indicating that the spore pigment biosynthesis competes with the avermectins biosynthetic pathway.