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Allosamidins, which are secondary metabolites of the Streptomyces species, have chitin-mimic pseudotrisaccharide structures. They bind to catalytic centers of all family 18 chitinases and inhibit their enzymatic activity. Allosamidins have been used as chitinase inhibitors to investigate the physiological roles of chitinases in a variety of organisms. Two prominent biological activities of allosamidins were discovered, where one has anti-asthmatic activity in mammals, while the other has the chitinase-production- promoting activity in allosamidin-producing Streptomyces. In this article, recent studies on the novel biological activities of allosamidins are reviewed.

Allosamidins, metabolites of Streptomyces with strong inhibitory activities toward family 18 chitinases, show a variety of biological activities in various organisms. We prepared photoaffinity and biotinylated probes of allosamidin and demethylallosamidin, the N-demethyl derivative that shows much stronger anti-asthmatic activity than allosamidin. Mild acid hydrolysis of allosamidins afforded mono-amine derivatives, which were amidated to prepare probes with a photoactivatable aryl azide and/or biotin moieties. The derivatives with an N-acyl group at C-2 of the D-allosamine residue at the non-reducing end of allosamidins inhibited Trichoderma chitinase as strongly as the original compounds. Since the target of allosamidins in asthma is unclear, photoaffinity probes were used to analyze allosamidin-binding proteins in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid in IL-13-induced asthmatic mice. Ym1, a chitinase-like protein, was identified as the main allosamidin-binding protein among proteins whose expression was upregulated by IL-13 in BAL fluid. Binding of allosamidins with Ym1 was confirmed by the experiments with photoaffinity probes and recombinant Ym1.

Widespread interspecific stimulation of antibiotic production occurs in strains of Streptomyces owing to the activity of diffusible substances, as previously determined in our investigations of the cross-feeding effect. In this study, we newly isolated a substance produced by a Streptomyces strain closely related to Streptomyces scabrisporus, based on the observation that this substance induced the production of an unknown antibiotic in another strain related to Streptomyces griseorubiginosus. This substance, named promomycin, is a polyether structurally related to lonomycin. Promomycin itself had an antibiotic activity, but it stimulated antibiotic production in multiple Streptomyces strains at sub-inhibitory concentrations. Evidence implies that this stimulation effect is widespread within this group of bacteria.

Allosamidin is a family 18 chitinase inhibitor produced by Streptomyces. In its producing strain, Streptomyces sp. AJ9463, allosamidin promotes production of the family 18 chitinase originated from chi65 in a chitin medium through the two-component regulatory system encoded by chi65R and chi65S, which were present at the 5'-upstream region of chi65. In this study, we showed generality of the allosamidin's effect. Allosamidin enhanced production of the family 18 chitinases originated from chi65h of Streptomyces halstedii MF425, another allosamidin producer, chiC of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) and chiIII of Streptomyces griseus. All the three chitinase genes had high homology to chi65 and two genes homologous to chi65S and chi65R were present at their 5'-upstream regions. When allosamidin's effect was tested with six Streptomyces strains randomly isolated from soil, allosamidin enhanced chitinase production of all strains. All six strains possessed a set of three genes homologous to chi65, chi65S and chi65R. Analysis of 16S rDNA indicated that allosamidin-sensitive strains are distributed widely in Streptomyces. These observations suggested that allosamidin can affect the common regulatory system for production of a chitinase with a two-component regulatory system in Streptomyces.

In Streptomyces sp. AJ9463, a producer of chitinase inhibitor allosamidin, allosamidin strongly enhances production of the chitinase mainly secreted to the culture broth in a chitin medium. To clarify the mechanism for regulation of the chitinase production by allosamidin, a disruption experiment of genes encoding proteins constructing a two-component regulatory system present at 5� -upstream region of the chitinase gene was performed. In the disruptant obtained, allosamidin could not promote the chitinase production, but N, N� -diacetylchitobiose, which also enhances production of the same chitinase more weakly than allosamidin, promoted the chitinase production similarly to the case observed in the wild-type strain. Furthermore, by the experiment in an inorganic salt solution, it was shown that allosamidin could not induce the chitinase production without addition of N, N� - diacetylchitobiose. These results show that allosamidin can activate transcription of the chitinase gene through the two-component regulatory system in the presence of N, N� -diacetylchitobiose.

The authors previously reported that interspecific stimulatory events between Streptomyces species for antibiotic production and/or morphological differentiation mediated by putative diffusible metabolites take place at a high frequency. This paper reports the isolation and characterization of a substance produced by Streptomyces griseus that stimulates the growth and development of Streptomyces tanashiensis. The substance was purified from the culture supernatant of S. griseus by using anion-exchange chromatography, gel filtration chromatography and reverse-phase HPLC. FAB-MS and NMR analyses of the purified preparation indicated the substance to be desferrioxamine E (synonym: nocardamine), a siderophore that is widely produced by Streptomyces species and related organisms. Similar stimulatory effects on the growth and development of S. tanashiensis were exerted by desferrioxamine E produced by another actinomycete strain, but not by other siderophores tested, including ferrichrome and nocobactin and free ferric ion. An exogenous supply of desferrioxamine E stimulated secondary metabolite formation and/or morphological differentiation in various actinomycete strains. Disruption of the desferrioxamine biosynthesis gene cluster in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) abolished the production of desferrioxamine E and the activity to stimulate the growth and differentiation of S. tanashiensis. The S. coelicolor mutant showed impaired growth and development on Bennett's/glucose agar medium, but it was rescued by the exogenous supply of desferrioxamine E. These results indicate that desferrioxamines play an important role in streptomycete physiology. Similar to several pathogenic bacteria and fungi, S. tanashiensis may be defective in the production of siderophores; however, it can utilize the siderophores excreted by other organisms.

A transformation system for Streptomyces sp. AJ9463 strain (allosamidin producer) was successfully developed using protoplasts and a PEG-mediated method. To prepare protoplasts, the concentration of glycine and sucrose in YEME medium were optimized to 0.5% (w/v) and 34.0% (w/v), respectively. When the protoplasts of Streptomyces sp. AJ9463 were transformed with pUWL-KS, transformants could be obtained at a high efficiency of 7.0 x 10(4) transformants per microg DNA. To ensure that the transformation system worked properly, we then constructed a constitutive expression vector pYK1, in which the ermE* promoter drives transcription of the allosamidin-insensitive chitinase gene, chiIS. Although no transformant could be obtained by the genetic system using pYK1 isolated from Escherichia coli DH5alpha, pYK1 isolated from the methylase-deficient mutant E. coli SCS110, could be introduced into Streptomyces sp. AJ9463. This indicates that Streptomyces sp. AJ9463 has a methylation-specific restriction system, and that the chiIS and/or ermE* promoter region of pYK1 includes a restriction site of its endonuclease. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) indicated that pYK1 in Streptomyces sp. AJ9463 started to obviously express ChiIS from 14-h. Moreover, the pYK1-introduced strain gave a five-fold higher chitinase activity than the wild-type, suggesting that this system can be widely applied for the overexpression and gene functional analysis.

Allosamizoline (1) is an aminocyclitol component of allosamidin, a Streptomyces metabolite, and has a cyclopentane ring originated from D-glucosamine. Biosynthesis of the cyclopentane ring was studied by feeding experiments with a variety of deuterium-labeled glucosamine and glucose. In the feeding experiments with [3-(2)H]- and [4-(2)H]-D-glucosamine and [1-(2)H]-D-glucose, deuterium was incorporated into C-3, C-4, and C-1 of 1, respectively. On the other hand, feeding experiments with [5-(2)H]- and [6,6-(2)H(2)]-D-glucosamine showed that deuterium on C-5 and one of the two deuterium atoms on C-6 of glucosamine were lost during the cyclopentane ring formation of 1. In the feeding experiments with (6R)- and (6S)-[6-(2)H(1)]-D-glucose, the (6R)-deuterium of glucose was incorporated into the proS position on C-6 of 1, but the (6S)-deuterium of glucose was not incorporated into 1. These results suggested that an intermediate with a 6-aldehyde group is involved in the biosynthesis of the cyclopentane ring moiety of 1 and overall inversion of stereochemistry of the C-6 methylene group occurred by stereospecific oxidation and reduction on C-6 during the formation of 1. The 6-aldehyde intermediate may play a key role in the biosynthetic step(s) of cyclization to form the cyclopentane ring and/or deoxygenation at C-5.

Allosamidin is a chitinase inhibitor produced by Streptomyces. Allosamidin-producing Streptomyces is frequently found in soil. Allosamidin is a hydrophilic compound, but is found only in mycelia of its producer, and exogenous allosamidin is adsorbed on mycelia of its producing strain. We found that exogenous addition of allosamidin to a culture medium with colloidal chitin as a sole carbon source can strongly accelerate the chitinase production by an allosamidin-producing Streptomyces at low concentra- tions such as 1 pM. On the other hand, allosamidin depressed the chitinase activity in the culture of Streptomyces lividans, an allosamidin-nonproducing microbe. These results suggest that allosamidin has a physiological role in its producer as an inducer of chitinase production, which may be useful for chitin uti- lization by the producer in chitin-rich environment such as in soil.

Chitinase C from Streptomyces griseus HUT6037, described in 1997, is the first family 19 chitinase found in an organism other than higher plants. In this study, some properties of chitinase C were compared with those of family 18 bacterial chitinases, and the distribution of family 19 chitinases in Streptomyces species was investigated. The specific hydrolysing activity of chitinase C against soluble and insoluble chitinous substrates was markedly higher than those of bacterial family 18 chitinases. Chitinase C exhibited marked antifungal activity, whereas the other bacterial chitinases examined had no antifungal activity. Chitinase C was insensitive to allosamidin, whereas the family 18 bacterial chitinases were sensitive. Taking advantage of this insensitivity to allosamidin, a search was made for family 19 chitinases in various Streptomyces species. Chitinases insensitive to allosamidin were detected in the culture supernatants of all tested Streptomyces species. Southern hybridization analysis using a labelled DNA fragment corresponding to the catalytic domain of chitinase C strongly suggested that these species have genes similar to the chiC gene of S. griseus HUT6037. DNA fragments corresponding to the major part of the catalytic domains were amplified by PCR. The amplified fragments encoded amino acid sequences very similar to that of the corresponding region of chitinase C. Therefore, it was concluded that Streptomyces species generally possess family 19 chitinases which are very similar to chitinase C. Comparison of their amino acid sequences with those of plant family 19 chitinases revealed that Streptomyces family 19 chitinases are class IV type in terms of the presence and positions of deletions of amino acid sequences which are characteristic of plant class IV chitinases.

Two novel inhibitors of aflatoxin production by Aspergillus parasiticus were isolated from the mycelial extracts of Streptomyces sp. MRI142 and termed aflastatin A and B. The structures of aflastatin A (1) and B (5) were elucidated by NMR and chemical degradation experiments. These compounds have a novel skeleton of a tetramic acid derivative with a highly oxygenated long alkyl chain. The incorporation experiments using 13C-labeled acetates, propionate, glucose and glycolate suggested that most of the C2 and C3 units involved in the alkyl chain moiety of aflastatin A were biosynthesized from acetic and propionic acids, but five C2 units in the alkyl chain originated from glycolic acid.

A novel linear polyene antibiotic, termed linearmycin A, was isolated from the mycelial extract of Streptomyces sp. No 30 and characterized as shown in Fig. 2. It has a long linear structure with amino and carboxylic acid terminals.

Racemic 2-acyl-3-hydroxymethyl-4-butanolides were resolved through a lipase-catalyzed acylation with acetic anhydride. Optically active forms of 2-butyryl-3-hydroxymethyl-4-butanolide 14 obtained were used to prepare enantiomers of IM-2 10, the autoregulator from Streptomyces sp. FRI-5. The absolute configuration of IM-2 was deduced to be (2R,3R,6R).

Two chitinases were purified from the culture filtrate of Streptomyces sp. AJ 9463, which is a producer of a chitinase inhibitor, allosamidin. They had similar molecular masses (44.5 kDa and 43.7 kDa, estimated by SDS-PAGE) and both of them had slightly acidic optimum pH ranges, but showed quite different sensitivities to allosamidin. One chitinase, termed chitinase S, was strongly inhibited by allosamidin with the IC50 value of 0.5 µg/ml. The other one, termed chitinase IS, was not inhibited by the drug even at the concentration of 2 mg/ml.

A new allosamidin analog, termed didemethylallosamidin (3), was isolated from the mycelia of Streptomyces sp. AJ 9463 which is a producer of allosamidin (1) and demethylallosamidin (2). 14C-Labeled 1, 2 and 3 as well as their related compounds, 4, 5, and 6, were prepared to investigate the biosynthesis of 1. Conversion experiments with the labeled allosamidins revealed that 2 was a precursor of 1, but 3 was not incorporated. This suggests that the first N-methyl group is introduced before the cyclization of the aminooxazoline ring during the biosynthesis of 1. Although none of the compounds 4, 5, and 6 were converted to 1, the production of 1 was inhibited by the addition of 4.

Racemic 2-acyl-3-hydroxymethyl-4-butanolides were resolved through a lipase-catalyzed acylation with acetic anhydride. Optically active forms of 2-butyryl-3-hydroxymethyl-4-butanolide 14 obtained were used to prepare enantiomers of IM-2 10, the autoregulator from Streptomyces sp. FRI-5. The absolute configuration of IM-2 was deduced to be (2R,3R,6R).

Aflastatin A, a novel inhibitor of the production of aflatoxin by aflatoxigenic fungi, has been isolated from the solvent extract of mycelial cake of Streptomyces sp. and its molecular formula was determined as C62H115NO24. Aflastatin A completely inhibited aflatoxin production by Aspergillus parasiticus NRRL 2999 in liquid medium or on agar plate at a concentration of 0.5μg/ml. The mycelial growth of this fungus was not affected in the liquid medium at the same concentration, while the hyphal extension rate was reduced on the plate together with some morphological changes. The growth of the fungus was not completely inhibited even at a concentration of 100μg/ml. Aflastatin A exhibits antimicrobial activity against some bacteria, yeasts and fungi as well as antitumor activity.

Two novel inhibitors of aflatoxin production by Aspergillus parasiticus were isolated from the mycelial extracts of Streptomyces sp. MRI142 and termed aflastatin A and B. The structures of aflastatin A (1) and B (5) were elucidated by NMR and chemical degradation experiments. These compounds have a novel skeleton of a tetramic acid derivative with a highly oxygenated long alkyl chain. The incorporation experiments using 13C-labeled acetates, propionate, glucose and glycolate suggested that most of the C2 and C3 units involved in the alkyl chain moiety of aflastatin A were biosynthesized from acetic and propionic acids, but five C2 units in the alkyl chain originated from glycolic acid.

Blasticidin A (BcA), an antibiotic produced by Streptomyces, inhibits aflatoxin production without strong growth inhibition toward aflatoxin-producing fungi. During the course of our study on the mode of action of BcA by two-dimensional differential gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE), we found a decrease in the abundances of ribosomal proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae after exposure to BcA. This phenomenon was also observed by treatment with blasticidin S (BcS) or cycloheximide. BcA inhibited protein synthesis in a galactose-induced expression system in S. cerevisiae similar to BcS and cycloheximide. BcS, but not cycloheximide, inhibited aflatoxin production in Aspergillus parasiticus without inhibition of fungal growth, similar to BcA. A decrease in the abundances of aflatoxin biosynthetic enzymes was observed in 2D-DIGE experiments with Aspergillus flavus after exposure to BcA or BcS. These results suggested that protein synthesis inhibitors are useful to control aflatoxin production.

IM-2 is one of the butyrolactone autoregulators of Streptomyces, which triggers production of a blue pigment in Streptomyces sp. FRI-5 at a concentration of 0.6 ng/ml. In the absence of IM-2, Streptomyces sp. FRI-5 was found to produce d -cycloserine. However, the addition of IM-2 at 5-h cultivation stopped both growth and d -cycloserine production, and instead induced production of several different antibiotics. The IM-2-induced antibiotics were isolated from the culture broth, and assigned as the nucleoside antibiotics, showdomycin and minimycin. Therefore, IM-2 was concluded to be a global regulator of a secondary metabolism, which not only induced the production of nucleoside antibiotics but also suppressed d -cycloserine production.

Autoregulators, which in common have a butyrolactone skeleton, are widely distributed among Streptomyces. Biosynthetic pathway of one of these autoregulators, virginiae butanolide A, was proposed on the basis of isotope labeled precursors incorporation experiments.The identification of the receptor protein for butyrolactone autoregulators in Streptomyces virginiae and its purification, characterization and cloning are also reviewed.

Three of new allosamidins, termed glucoallosamidins A (5), B (6) and methyl-N-demethyl-allosamidin (4), were isolated as yeast chitinase inhibitors from the mycelium of Streptomyces sp. SA-684.

In the course of our screening program for regulators of a molecular chaperone GRP78 expression, we isolated a novel inhibitor of GRP78 expression, designated as prunustatin A, from Streptomyces violaceoniger 4521-SVS3. The planar structure of prunustatin A was determined to be an oxidized type of the neoantimycin family. Its absolute stereochemistry was established to be 2R, 4S, 6S, 7R, 9S, and 29S by analyzing chemically degraded components obtained from the derivative of prunustatin A.

The shikimate pathway, including seven enzymatic steps for production of chorismate via shikimate from phosphoenolpyruvate and erythrose-4-phosphate, is common in various organisms for the biosynthesis of not only aromatic amino acids but also most biogenic benzene derivatives. 3-Amino-4-hydroxybenzoic acid (3,4-AHBA) is a benzene derivative serving as a precursor for several secondary metabolites produced by Streptomyces, including grixazone produced by Streptomyces griseus. Our study on the biosynthesis pathway of grixazone led to identification of the biosynthesis pathway of 3,4-AHBA from two primary metabolites. Two genes, griI and griH, within the grixazone biosynthesis gene cluster were found to be responsible for the biosynthesis of 3,4-AHBA; the two genes conferred the in vivo production of 3,4-AHBA even on Escherichia coli. In vitro analysis showed that GriI catalyzed aldol condensation between two primary metabolites, l-aspartate-4-semialdehyde and dihydroxyacetone phosphate, to form a 7-carbon product, 2-amino-4,5-dihydroxy-6-one-heptanoic acid-7-phosphate, which was subsequently converted to 3,4-AHBA by GriH. The latter reaction required Mn(2+) ion but not any cofactors involved in reduction or oxidation. This pathway is independent of the shikimate pathway, representing a novel, simple enzyme system responsible for the synthesis of a benzene ring from the C(3) and C(4) primary metabolites.

A-factor (2-isocapryloyl-3R-hydroxymethyl-gamma-butyrolactone) acts as a microbial hormone that induces morphological development and secondary metabolism in Streptomyces griseus. A diffusible yellow pigment is produced by S. griseus in an A-factor-dependent manner under phosphate depletion. Detailed analysis of the pigment production by S. griseus cultivated in minimal liquid medium containing different concentrations of phosphate showed that the pigment was actively produced in the presence of low concentrations of phosphate and the production of the pigment was completely repressed in the presence of 2.5 mM KH2PO4. HPLC analysis of the culture supernatant showed that the pigment consisted of two major, structurally related compounds and they were produced at different ratios depending on the concentration of phosphate in the medium. The structures of the two major compounds, designated as grixazone A and B, were determined by spectroscopic analyses as 1-[[2-(acetylamino)-2-carboxyethyl]thio]-2-amino-3-oxo-8-formyl-3H-phenoxiazine and 1-[[2-(acetylamino)-2-carboxyethyl]thio]-2-amino-3-oxo-8-carboxyl-3H-phenoxiazine, respectively. Grixazone A was a novel compound, although grixazone B was reported in a patent as a parasiticide produced by Streptomyces sp. DSM3813.

Allosamidin is a strong inhibitor of family 18 chitinases. We previously reported the presence of allosamidin-sensitive and -insensitive chitinases (chitinase S and IS) in the culture filtrate of the allosamidin-producing strain, Streptomyces sp. AJ9463. In this study, we cloned and sequenced the genes encoding the two chitinases, which clarified that chitinase S and IS belong to the family 18 and 19 chitinase, respectively.

Chitinase C from Streptomyces griseus HUT6037, described in 1997, is the first family 19 chitinase found in an organism other than higher plants. In this study, some properties of chitinase C were compared with those of family 18 bacterial chitinases, and the distribution of family 19 chitinases in Streptomyces species was investigated. The specific hydrolysing activity of chitinase C against soluble and insoluble chitinous substrates was markedly higher than those of bacterial family 18 chitinases. Chitinase C exhibited marked antifungal activity, whereas the other bacterial chitinases examined had no antifungal activity. Chitinase C was insensitive to allosamidin, whereas the family 18 bacterial chitinases were sensitive. Taking advantage of this insensitivity to allosamidin, a search was made for family 19 chitinases in various Streptomyces species. Chitinases insensitive to allosamidin were detected in the culture supernatants of all tested Streptomyces species. Southern hybridization analysis using a labelled DNA fragment corresponding to the catalytic domain of chitinase C strongly suggested that these species have genes similar to the chiC gene of S. griseus HUT6037. DNA fragments corresponding to the major part of the catalytic domains were amplified by PCR. The amplified fragments encoded amino acid sequences very similar to that of the corresponding region of chitinase C. Therefore, it was concluded that Streptomyces species generally possess family 19 chitinases which are very similar to chitinase C. Comparison of their amino acid sequences with those of plant family 19 chitinases revealed that Streptomyces family 19 chitinases are class IV type in terms of the presence and positions of deletions of amino acid sequences which are characteristic of plant class IV chitinases.

Aflastatin A, a novel inhibitor of the production of aflatoxin by aflatoxigenic fungi, has been isolated from the solvent extract of mycelial cake of Streptomyces sp. and its molecular formula was determined as C62H115NO24. Aflastatin A completely inhibited aflatoxin production by Aspergillus parasiticus NRRL 2999 in liquid medium or on agar plate at a concentration of 0.5 microgram/ml. The mycelial growth of this fungus was not affected in the liquid medium at the same concentration, while the hyphal extension rate was reduced on the plate together with some morphological changes. The growth of the fungus was not completely inhibited even at a concentration of 100 micrograms/ml. Aflastatin A exhibits antimicrobial activity against some bacteria, yeasts and fungi as well as antitumor activity.

In a cell extract of Streptomyces virginiae, virginiamycin M1 was inactivated in the presence of NADPH, while virginiamycin S remained intact. The inactivated product of virginiamycin M1 was isolated, and structure analysis revealed that the inactivation involves reduction of a C-16 carbonyl group leading to the formation of 16-dihydrovirginiamycin M1. Acetonide and benzylidene acetal derivatives were synthesized from the two hydroxyl groups on C-14 and C-16, and the C-16 stereochemistry was determined by 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Two methyl groups of the acetonide derivative gave 13C signals of 20.1 and 30.1 ppm, indicating that the relative stereochemistry of the C-14 and C-16 hydroxy groups is syn. Furthermore, irradiation of the benzylidene methine proton gave clear nuclear Overhauser effect enhancement of the C-14 or C-16 methine protons, indicating that H-14 and H-16 were in an axial configuration. From the (14S) absolute configuration of natural virginiamycin M1 and the syn relative configuration for the C-14 and C-16 hydroxyl groups of the inactivated product, the C-16 absolute configuration of the inactivated product was thus identified as R.

A novel dimer of an inositol glycoside was isolated from the mycelial extracts of Streptomyces sp. AJ 9463. Its structure was assigned as a disulfide of 2-(N-acetyl-L-cysteinyl)amido-2-deoxy-alpha-D-glucopyranosyl-(1--1)-1D- myo- inositol (1).

Two novel linear polyene antibiotics, termed linearmycin A 1 and B 2, have been isolated from the mycelial extracts of Streptomyces sp. no. 30 and characterized as compounds 1 and 2, respectively. These compounds have similar, long linear structures terminating with amino and carboxylic acid groups, and show antifungal and antibacterial activity. The incorporation experiments using 13C-labelled acetate and propionate suggest that 1 is biosynthesized from one γ-aminobutyric acid, 24 acetate and 4 propionate molecules, by a polyketide pathway.

Virginiae butanolide A 1 is one of the virginiamycin-inducing factors and has a 2,3-disubstituted butanolide skeleton which is common to other signal molecules in Streptomyces. To investigate the biosynthetic pathway of 1, possible intermediates have been synthesized. Conversion experiments with these intermediates in a cell-free system showed that the ester 11 was a biosynthetic intermediate of 1.

Allosamidin 1 is a potent insect chitinase inhibitor produced by Streptomyces sp. The biosynthesis of compound 1 was studied by feeding experiments with labelled precursors. Incorporation experiments using [1-13C]- and D-[6-13C]glucose as well as doubly labelled D-[1-13C,2-15N]-glucosamine revealed that each skeleton of N-acetyl-D-allosamine and allosamizoline 2 was derived from D-glucosamine. Further experiments with L-[guanidino-13C,15N2]arginine and [methyl-l3C]-methionine clarified the origin of the dimethylaminooxazoline moiety of compound 2.

The structures of allosamidin (1) and methylallosamidin (2), novel insect chitinase inhibitors, were elucidated as 1 and 2 by acid hydrolysis experiments and analyses of 2d-NMR spectra. They are unique basic pseudotrisaccharides consisting of 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-d-allose (N-acetyl-d- allosamine) and a novel aminocyclitol derivative (3), termed allosamizoline.

Allosamidin( 1 ), a novel insect chitinase inhibitor, was isolated from the mycelium of Streptomyces sp. and characterized as 1 , which was a basic pseudotrisaccharide consisting of 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-allose(N-acetyl-D-allosamine) and a novel aminocyclitol derivative( 3 ), termed allosamizoline.

Allosamidin, a product of Streptomyces sp. No 1713, inhibited Bombyx mori chitinase specifically in a competitive way with a Ki o f about 0.1 μm. The effect of allosamidin on chitinases from r Streptomyces griseus and Serratia marcescens was weaker, about 1/500 that on B. mori chitinase. Allosamidin did not inhibit yam chitinase, lysozymes of hen egg-white or human urine, or B. mori α-N-acetyl-d-glucosaminidase. The results suggest that allosamidin is a specific inhibitor of the insect chitinase.

A hormone-like factor, which triggers blue pigment production in Streptomyces sp. FRI-5, was purified 170,000-fold from a culture broth of the strain with 14% activity recovery. The compound, named IM-2, was effective at a concentration of 0.6 ng/ml in initiating blue pigment-production. The structure was determined to be 2, 3-trans-2-(1′-hydroxybutyl)-3-(hydroxymethyl)butanolide (10) on the basis of spectral data and chemical synthesis.

Allosamidin, a novel insect chitinase inhibitor, was isolated from the mycelium of Streptomyces sp. It showed strong inhibitory activity against the chitinases of the silkworm, Bombyx mori, in vitro, and also insecticidal activity by preventing its ecdysis in vivo.

The afsA gene of Streptomyces griseus has been postulated to encode a key enzyme for A-factor biosynthesis from primary metabolites commonly present in Streptomyces strains. Escherichia coli cells harboring afsA under the control of the T7 promoter specified distinct A-factor activity in the culture broth, as determined by induction of streptomycin production and aerial mycelium and spore formation in an A-factor-deficient S. griseus mutant strain. Production of the substance(s) having A-factor activity was inhibited by cerulenin, an inhibitor of fatty acid biosynthesis. These observations suggest that afsA encodes a key enzyme in the A-factor biosynthetic pathway in which a beta-keto acid derived from fatty acid biosynthesis and a glycerol derivative serve as precursors.

Two different NAD/coenzyme-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenases exist, the well-known NAD/GSH-dependent (EC 1.2.1.1) and the more recently discovered NAD/Factor-dependent enzyme. The GSH-dependent one has been found in eukaryotes and Gram-negative bacteria, the Factor-dependent one in two different Gram-positive bacteria. Previous work also showed that Factor and GSH are not interchangeable in the enzymatic reactions. Here it is revealed that the Factor is identical to mycothiol (MySH), 1-O-(2′-[N-acetyl-L-cysteinyl]amido-2′-deoxy-α-D-glucopyranosyl)-D-myo-inositol, a thiol compound which has recently been detected in Actinomycetes. Thus, MySH is GSH's companion as it is the coenzyme for the enzyme which henceforth can be indicated as NAD/MySH-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase.