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Milbemycins, a group of 16-membered macrocylic lactones with excellent acaricidal, insecticidal and anthelmintic activities, can be produced by several Streptomyces species. For the reason that they have low toxicity in mammals, milbemycins and their derivatives are widely used in agricultural, medical and veterinary industries. Streptomyces bingchenggensis, one of milbemycin-producing strains, has been sequenced and intensively investigated in the past decades. In this mini-review, we comprehensively revisit the progress that has been made in research efforts to elucidate the biosynthetic pathways and regulatory networks for the cellular production of milbemycins. The advances in the development of production strains for milbemycin and its derivatives are discussed along the strain-generation technical approaches of random mutagenesis, metabolic engineering and combinatorial biosynthesis. The research progress made so far indicates that strain improvement and generation of novel milbemycin derivatives will greatly benefit from future development of enabling technologies and deeper understanding of the fundamentals of biosynthesis of milbemycin and the regulation of its production in S. bingchenggensis. This mini-review also proposes that the overproduction of milbemycins could be greatly enhanced by genome minimization, systematical metabolic engineering and synthetic biology approaches in the future.

Milbemycin R, a novel spiro-heterocycle milbemycin, was obtained from the metabolites produced by the mutant strain S. bingchenggensis BCJ60B11. Its structure was determined by spectroscopic and sp...

Two undescribed milbemycin derivatives, milbemycin P (1) and milbemycin Q (2), were isolated from a culture of the genetically engineered strain Streptomyces bingchenggensis BCJ60. Their structures were elucidated through the interpretation of NMR and HR-ESI-MS spectroscopic data, as well as comparison with previous reports. Their acaricidal and nematocidal activities against Tetranychus cinnabarinus and Bursaphelenchus xylophilus were tested. The results showed that compounds 1–2 possessed potent acaricidal and nematocidal activities.

Dramatic decrease of sugar uptake is a general phenomenon in Streptomyces at stationary phase, when antibiotics are extensively produced. Milbemycins produced by Streptomyces bingchenggensis are a group of valuable macrolide biopesticides, while the low yield and titer impede their broad applications in agricultural field. Considering that inadequate sugar uptake generally hinders titer improvement of desired products, we mined the underlying sugar uptake systems and fine-tuned their expression in this work. First, we screened the candidates at both genomic and transcriptomic level in S. bingchenggensis. Then, two ATP-binding cassette transporters named TP2 and TP5 were characterized to improve milbemycin titer and yield significantly. Next, the appropriate native temporal promoters were selected and used to tune the expression of TP2 and TP5, resulting in a maximal milbemycin A3/A4 titer increase by 36.9% to 3321 mg/L. Finally, TP2 and TP5 were broadly fine-tuned in another two macrolide biopesticide producers Streptomyces avermitilis and Streptomyces cyaneogriseus, leading to a maximal titer improvement of 34.1% and 52.6% for avermectin B1a and nemadectin, respectively. This work provides useful transporter tools and corresponding engineering strategy for Streptomyces.

Two new milbemycin derivatives, milbemycin M (1) and milbemycin N (2), were isolated from the culture of a genetically engineered strain Streptomyces bingchenggensis BCJ60. Their structures were elucidated through the interpretation of NMR and HR-ESI-MS spectroscopic data, as well as comparison with previous reports. The acaricidal and nematicidal activities of them against Tetranychus cinnabarinus and Bursaphelenchus xylophilus were tested. The results showed that compounds 1-2 possessed potent acaricidal and nematocidal activities.

Milbemycins and their semisynthetic derivatives are recognized as effective and eco-friendly pesticides, whereas the high price limits their widespread applications in agriculture. One of the pivotal questions is the accumulation of milbemycin-like by-products, which not only reduces the yield of the target products milbemycin A3/A4, but also brings difficulty to the purification. With other analogous by-products abolished, α9/α10 and β-family milbemycins remain to be eliminated. Herein, we solved these issues by engineering of post-modification steps. First, Cyp41, a CYP268 family cytochrome P450, was identified to participate in α9/α10 biosynthesis. By deleting cyp41, milbemycin α9/α10 was eliminated with an increase of milbemycin A3/A4 titer from 2382.5 ± 55.7 mg/L to 2625.6 ± 64.5 mg/L. Then, MilE, a CYP171 family cytochrome P450, was determined to be responsible for the generation of the furan ring between C6 and C8a of milbemycins. By further overexpression of milE, the production of β-family milbemycins was reduced by 77.2%. Finally, the titer of milbemycin A3/A4 was increased by 53.1% to 3646.9 ± 69.9 mg/L. Interestingly, overexpression of milE resulted in increased transcriptional levels of milbemycin biosynthetic genes and production of total milbemycins, which implied that the insufficient function of MilE was a limiting factor to milbemycin biosynthesis. Our research not only provides an efficient engineering strategy to improve the production of a commercially important product milbemycins, but also offers the clues for future study about transcriptional regulation of milbemycin biosynthesis.

Two new 5-oxomilbemycins, 27-aldehyde -5-oxo milbemycin β 12 (1) and 2-hydroxymilbemycin K (2) , were isolated from a genetically engineered strain Streptomyces bingchenggensis BCJ60. Their structures were determined by comprehensive analyses of its 1H and 13C NMR, COSY, HMQC, and HMBC spectroscopic, HR - E S I - MS mass spectrometric and comparison with data from the literature . Preliminary studies showed that 27-aldehyde -5-oxo milbemycin β 12 (1) and 2-hydroxymilbemycin K (2) possessed strong acaricidal and nematocidal activities.

Two new milbemycin derivatives, 27-methoxylmilbemycin α31 (1) and 27-oxomilbemycin α31 (2), were isolated from the genetically engineered strain Streptomyces bingchenggensis BCJ60. Their structures were determined by 1D NMR, 2D NMR and HR-ESI-MS spectral analysis, and comparison with previous reports. The acaricidal and nematocidal capacities of compounds 1 and 2 were evaluated against Tetranychus cinnabarinus and Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, respectively. The results showed that the two new macrocyclic lactones 1 and 2 possessed potent acaricidal and nematocidal activities.

Milbemycins, a group of 16-membered macrolide antibiotics, are used widely as insecticides and anthelmintics. Previously, a limited understanding of the transcriptional regulation of milbemycin biosynthesis has hampered efforts to enhance antibiotic production by engineering of regulatory genes. Here, a novel ArpA/AfsA-type system, SbbR/SbbA (SBI_08928/SBI_08929), has been identified to be involved in regulating milbemycin biosynthesis in the industrial strain S. bingchenggensis BC04. Inactivation of sbbR in BC04 resulted in markedly decreased production of milbemycin, while deletion of sbbA enhanced milbemycin production. Electrophoresis mobility shift assays (EMSAs) and DNase I footprinting studies showed that SbbR has a specific DNA-binding activity for the promoters of milR (the cluster-situated activator gene for milbemycin production) and the bidirectionally organized genes sbbR and sbbA. Transcriptional analysis suggested that SbbR directly activates the transcription of milR, while represses its own transcription and that of sbbA. Moreover, 11 novel targets of SbbR were additionally found, including seven regulatory genes located in secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters (e.g., sbi_08420, sbi_08432, sbi_09158, sbi_00827, sbi_01376, sbi_09325, and sig24sbh ) and four well-known global regulatory genes (e.g., glnRsbh , wblAsbh , atrAsbh , and mtrA/Bsbh ). These data suggest that SbbR is not only a direct activator of milbemycin production, but also a pleiotropic regulator that controls the expression of other cluster-situated regulatory genes and global regulatory genes. Overall, this study reveals the upper-layer regulatory system that controls milbemycin biosynthesis, which will not only expand our understanding of the complex regulation in milbemycin biosynthesis, but also provide a basis for an approach to improve milbemycin production via genetic manipulation of SbbR/SbbA system.

Milbemycin oxime has been commercialized as effective anthelmintics in the fields of animal health, agriculture, and human infections. Currently, milbemycin oxime is synthesized by a two-step chemical reaction, which involves the ketonization of milbemycins A3/A4 to yield the intermediates 5-oxomilbemycins A3/A4 using CrO3 as catalyst. Due to the low efficiency and environmental unfriendliness of the ketonization of milbemycins A3/A4, it is imperative to develop alternative strategies to produce 5-oxomilbemycins A3/A4. In this study, the atmospheric and room temperature plasma (ARTP) mutation system was first employed to treat milbemycin-producing strain Streptomyces bingchenggensis, and a mutant strain BC-120-4 producing milbemycins A3, A4, B2, and B3 as main components was obtained, which favors the construction of genetically engineered strains producing 5-oxomilbemycins. Importantly, the milbemycins A3/A4 yield of BC-120-4 reached 3,890 ± 52 g/l, which was approximately two times higher than that of the initial strain BC-109-6 (1,326 ± 37 g/l). The subsequent interruption of the gene milF encoding a C5-ketoreductase responsible for the ketonization of milbemycins led to strain BCJ60 (∆milF) with the production of 5-oxomilbemycins A3/A4 and the elimination of milbemycins A3, A4, B2, and B3. The high 5-oxomilbemycins A3/A4 yield (3,470 ± 147 g/l) and genetic stability of BCJ60 implied the potential use in industry to prepare 5-oxomilbemycins A3/A4 for the semisynthesis of milbemycins oxime.

Three new compounds, milbemycin β15 (I), seco-milbemycins E (IIa), and F (IIb) are isolated from the fermentation broth of S.

Two novel cyclic pentapeptides, bingchamides A (1) and B (2), have been isolated from the organic extracts of the mycelium of Streptomyces bingchenggensis. The structures of 1 and 2 were elucidated on the basis of extensive 1D and 2D NMR, as well as HRESI-MS, electrospray ionization-MS, UV and IR spectroscopic data analysis. Bingchamides A (1) and B (2) exhibited in vitro cytotoxicity toward human colon carcinoma cell line HCT-116 with the IC(50) values of 14.1 and 18.0 microg ml(-1), respectively. The bingchamides A (1) and B (2) scaffolds are probably promising structures for the development of new antitumor agents.

Two new beta-class milbemycins from Streptomyces bingchenggensis, named milbemycin beta(13) and beta(14), have been isolated and characterized. The producing organism has been deposited at the China General Microbiology Culture Collection Center (Accession No: CGMCC1734). On the basis of detailed spectroscopic analysis and comparison with reported data, their structures were determined to be the hydroxyl derivatives at C-27 of milbemycin beta(3) and 25-ethylmilbemycin beta(3), respectively. Milbemycins beta(13) and beta(14) possess potent acaricidal and nematocidal activity. The discovery of these two compounds plays an important role in understanding and perfecting the proposed pathways of milbemycins.

Three new compounds, milbemycin β15 (I), seco-milbemycins E (IIa), and F (IIb) are isolated from the fermentation broth of S.

In the continuing study of the chemical compositions of the strain Streptomyces bingchenggensis, three new milbemycin derivatives, milbemycin alpha(31) (1), secomilbemycins C (2), and D (3), were isolated. Their structures were established on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis.

Two novel cyclic pentapeptides, bingchamides A (1) and B (2), have been isolated from the organic extracts of the mycelium of Streptomyces bingchenggensis. The structures of 1 and 2 were elucidated on the basis of extensive 1D and 2D NMR, as well as HRESI-MS, electrospray ionization-MS, UV and IR spectroscopic data analysis. Bingchamides A (1) and B (2) exhibited in vitro cytotoxicity toward human colon carcinoma cell line HCT-116 with the IC(50) values of 14.1 and 18.0 microg ml(-1), respectively. The bingchamides A (1) and B (2) scaffolds are probably promising structures for the development of new antitumor agents.

Two new seco-milbemycins have been isolated and characterized from the Streptomyces bingchenggensis. On the basis of detailed spectroscopic analysis and comparison with the reported data of milbemycin beta(14), their structures were established to be the seco-milbemycins of milbemycin beta(14). However, milbemycin beta(14) and the two new seco-milbemycins were not converted to each other during purification by silica gel column or storage in the MeOH extract at room temperature. The two new seco-milbemycins are the first discovered from milbemycin-producing microorganisms. They may play an important role in understanding and perfecting the proposed biosynthesis pathways of milbemycins.

Three new alpha-class milbemycins from Streptomyces bingchenggensis, named milbemycins alpha28, alpha29 and alpha30, have been isolated and characterized. On the basis of detailed spectroscopic analysis and comparison with reported data, their structures were determined to be the 22alpha-hydroxy, 23beta-O-(2-methylbutanoyl) milbemycin alpha9, 22alpha-hydroxy, 23beta-O-(2,4-dimethylpentanoyl) milbemycin alpha9 and 22alpha-hydroxy, 23beta-O-(2-methylbutanoyl) milbemycin A4, respectively. Milbemycins alpha28 and alpha29 are the first reported milbemycins that possess both C-26 and C-23 substituents. These three new milbemycins possess potent acaricidal and nematocidal activity.

Streptomyces bingchenggensis is a soil-dwelling bacterium producing the commercially important anthelmintic macrolide milbemycins. Besides milbemycins, the insecticidal polyether antibiotic nanchangmycin and some other antibiotics have also been isolated from this strain. Here we report the complete genome sequence of S . bingchenggensis . The availability of the genome sequence of S . bingchenggensis should enable us to understand the biosynthesis of these structurally intricate antibiotics better and facilitate rational improvement of this strain to increase their titers.