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Volume 170, Issue 9

Microbe Profile: : antibiotics for every niche Open Access

Graphical Abstract

Graphical abstract

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of sp. (a). Ae707-Ps1 and (b). Ae707-Ps2. These are the two lineages of associated with leafcutter ants collected in Gamboa, Panama. (c). Four specialised metabolites are shown that are produced by strains isolated from diverse ecosystems: they are 9-methoxyrebeccamycin, selvamicin, pseudonochelin and attinimicin. (d). This tree shows a subset of phylogenetic diversity showing strain origin (outer ring colour), genome size (Mb, red box) and number of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs, purple box). The specialised metabolites (c) are coloured to match the producing strains, the boxed numbers show the genome size (red) and number of BGCs (purple) (d).

Abstract

species comprise a genus of filamentous, sporulating bacteria belonging to the phylum Actinomycetota, formerly Actinobacteria. They are found in marine and freshwater sediments and soils and associated with marine animals, insects, and plants. To date, they have mostly been studied because of their mutually beneficial symbiosis with fungus-growing ants in the tribe . They have also attracted interest due to their biosynthetic capabilities, including the production of variably glycosylated polyenes and other novel antifungal compounds, and for their capacity to grow on a variety of hydrocarbons. The majority of clinically used antibiotics are derived from the specialised metabolites of filamentous actinomycete bacteria and most of these come from the genus . However, in the quest for novel chemistry there is increasing interest in studying other filamentous actinomycete genera, including . Here we outline the biological properties, genome size and structure and key features of the genus , namely their specialised metabolites and ecological roles.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): Actinomycetes , natural products , Pseudonocardia and specialised metabolites
Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Natural Environment Research Council (Award NE/S007334/1)
    • Principle Award Recipient: BonnieWhatmough
  • Natural Environment Research Council (Award NE/J01074X/1)
    • Principle Award Recipient: MatthewI. Hutchings
  • Natural Environment Research Council (Award NE/M014657/1)
    • Principle Award Recipient: MatthewI. Hutchings
  • Natural Environment Research Council (Award NE/M015033/1)
    • Principle Award Recipient: BarrieWilkinson
  • Medical Research Council (Award G0801721)
    • Principle Award Recipient: MatthewI. Hutchings
  • Ministerio de Ciencia Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones (Award 2-1-4-17-1-037)
    • Principle Award Recipient: JonathanParra
© 2024 The Authors
  • This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. This article was made open access via a Publish and Read agreement between the Microbiology Society and the corresponding author’s institution.
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2024-09-19
2024-10-14
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References

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