Increasing production of the antibiotic-abyssomicin C in Micromonospora maris

Abyssomicin C is a polyketide antibiotic produced by Micromonospora maris AB-18-032. Previous work on abyssomicin C indicated that it inhibits growth of infectious pathogens such as Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA). It does this by suppressing para-aminobenzoic acid (pABA) synthesis, which is required for folic acid biosynthesis in bacteria. This makes abyssomicin C an appealing antibiotic drug, as it is specific only to bacteria. However, its yield in chemical synthesis (4 %) and biosynthesis (60.0 mg/L) are low. Ribosome engineering, through the selection of streptomycin-resistant and rifampin-resistant mutants, of M. maris may result in strains with a higher titer of production. After screening by bioassay and sequencing, the mutant genes in six Ochi mutants were identified. Of these mutants, four of them are able to produce a higher titer of abyssomicin C. The other two strains were detected to produce the other secondary metabolite.