Production of poly-β-1,6-N-acetylglucosamine by MatAB is required for hyphal aggregation and hydrophilic surface adhesion by Streptomyces
Authors:Dino van Dissel1, Joost Willemse1, Boris Zacchetti1, Dennis Claessen1, Gerald B. Pier2, Gilles P. van Wezel1
doi: 10.15698/mic2018.06.635
Volume 5, pp. 269 to 279, published 12/02/2018.
1 Molecular Biotechnology, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
2 Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Keywords:
Streptomyces, hyphal aggregation, adhesion, PNAG, biofilm
Corresponding Author(s):
Conflict of interest statement:
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Please cite this article as:
Dino van Dissel, Joost Willemse, Boris Zacchetti, Dennis Claessen, Gerald B. Pier, Gilles P. van Wezel (2018). Production of poly-β-1,6-N-acetylglucosamine by MatAB is required for hyphal aggregation and hydrophilic surface adhesion by Streptomyces. Microbial Cell 5(6): 269-279. doi: 10.15698/mic2018.06.635
© 2018 van Dissel et al. This is an open-access article released under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows the unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are acknowledged.
Abstract:
Streptomycetes are multicellular filamentous microorganisms, and major producers of industrial enzymes and bioactive compounds such as antibiotics and anticancer drugs. The mycelial lifestyle plays an important role in the productivity during industrial fermentations. The hyphae of liquid-grown streptomycetes can self-aggregate into pellets, which hampers their industrial exploitation. Here we show that the Mat complex, which is required for pellet formation, catalyzes the synthesis of extracellular poly-β-1,6-N-acetylglucosamine (PNAG) in the model organisms Streptomyces coelicolor and Streptomyces lividans. Extracellular accumulation of PNAG allows Streptomyces to attach to hydrophilic surfaces, while attachment to hydrophobic surfaces requires a cellulase-degradable extracellular polymer (EPS) produced by CslA. Over-expression of matAB was sufficient to restore pellet formation to cslA null mutants of S. lividans. The two EPS systems together increase the robustness of mycelial pellets. These new insights allow better control of liquid-culture morphology of streptomycetes, which may be harnessed to improve growth and industrial exploitation of these highly versatile natural product and enzyme producers.