Molecular genetics and applications of a Streptomyces gene amplification system

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Streptomyces are a ubiquitous group of soil bacteria that play important roles in ecology and produce hundreds of important bioactive compounds. They are able to synthesize or degrade diverse compounds in terrestrial ecosystems. They are the most prolific known source of antibiotics (more than 2/3 of all antibiotics) as well as other metabolites having applications as herbicides, anticancer drugs, immunoregulators, and antiparasitic compounds. Genome sequencing has recently shown that each isolate is able to produce its own repertoire of 20-40 different, potentially bioactive compounds. Unfortunately, these bacteria produces less than 10% of these compounds in the laboratory. With multidrug resistant bacteria rapidly emerging, there is renewed interest in mining these pathways for new antibiotics to treat diseases caused by bacterial pathogens such as Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Mycobacterium, and Salmonella.