Streptomyces aerial mycelium formation

Willey JM, Schwedock J, Losick R, Multiple extracellular signals govern the production of a morphogenetic protein involved in aerial mycelium formation hy Streptomyces coelicolor, Genes Dev7 A95-90 i, 1993. 

Elam JS, Taylor AB, Strange R, Antonyuk S, Doucette PA, Rodriguez JA, Hasnain SS, Hayward LJ, Valentine JS, Yeates TO, Hart PJ (2003) Amyloid-Uke filaments and water-filled nanotubes formed by SODl mutant proteins linked to familial ALS. Nat Stmct Biol 10 461-467 Elliot MA, Karoonuthaisiri N, Huang J, Bibb Ml, Cohen SN, Kao CM, Buttner Ml (2003) The chapUns a family of hydrophobic cell-surface proteins involved in aerial mycelium formation in Streptomyces coelicolor. Genes Dev 17 1727-1740... 

Streptomyces tendae produces an extracellular hydrophobic peptide referred to as streptofactin (Richter et al. 1998). Streptofactin is a mixture of structurally related peptides ranging in molecular mass from 1,003 to 1,127 Da. Streptofactin reduced the surface tension of water from 72 mN/m to 39.4 mN/m and had a critical micelle concentration of 36 mg/1. Interestingly, streptofactin restored the ability of mutants defective in aerial mycelium formation to develop normally. It was suggested that streptofactin plays a role in Streptomyces development by allowing for the erection of aerial hyphae by lowering the surface tension of water films enclosing the colonies. 

Antibiotic production and morphological differentiation (formation of aerial mycelium and sporulation) in Streptomyces species and in some other actinomycetes is regulated by small signaling molecules called y-butyrolactones or butanolids. These quorum-sensing signals bind to... 

In 1986, Keller-Schierlein, ZShner and their respective coworkers isolated ( )-differolide (135, Figure 5.14) from cultures of an actinomycete, Streptomyces aurantiogriseus Tii 3149. This compound ( )-135, whose structure was determined by X-ray diffraction studies, was reported to enhance the formation of aerial mycelium and spores of Streptomyces glaucescens. Especially noteworthy was the fact that the natural product was racemic. There are some examples of the occurrence of racemic and bioactive natural products such as magnosalicin (10) and olean (116), but they are rare. Although there was a straightforward Diels-Alder synthesis of ( )-135 by dimerization of 2-vinyl-2-buten-4-olide, this method would not afford the enantiomers of 135. 

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