Artificial chromosomes for antibiotic-producing actinomycetes.

Bacteria belonging to the order Actinomycetales produce most microbial metabolites thus far described, several of which have found applications in medicine and agriculture. However, most strains were discovered by their ability to produce a given molecule and are, therefore, poorly characterized physiologically and genetically. Thus, methodologies for genetic manipulation of actinomycetes are not available and efficient tools have been developed for just a few strains. This constitutes a serious limitation to applying molecular genetics approaches to strain development and structural manipulation of microbial metabolites. To overcome this hurdle, we have developed bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC) that can be shuttled among Escherichia coli, where they replicate autonomously, and a suitable Streptomyces host, where they integrate site-specifically into the chromosome. The existence of gene clusters and of genetically amenable host strains, such as Streptomyces coelicolor or Streptomyces lividans, makes this a sensible approach. We report here that 100 kb segments of actinomycete DNA can be cloned into these vectors and introduced into genetically accessible S. lividans, where they are stably maintained in integrated form in its chromosome.