Unlocking the antibiotic production potential in soil bacteria streptomyces coelicolor
We live in an era where once miracle drugs – antibiotics, cease to be efficient. The rise of antibiotic resistance is an immediate major global issue. There are several layers causing the problem – misuse, overuse, lack of proper guidelines etc. The only long-term efficient solutions are – pushing more antibiotics and vaccines into the discovery pipeline. More than 70% of the naturally produced antibiotics used today come from non-pathogenic bacteria from the Streptomyces genus. These bountiful bacteria still have a lot to give, as only one-third of their secondary metabolite pathways are characterized. The rest of their potential stays locked away, i.e., inaccessible with the currently available approaches/tools. In STREPUNLOCKED project, we suggest a study of an up-and-coming pathway involved in the regulation of antibiotic production/resistance – adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-ribosylation. In order to achieve these aims, we will use a multidisciplinary approach that combines several latest mass spectrometry techniques and analyses, genetic approaches, molecular modelling and bioinformatics’ tools to characterize the novel ADP-ribosylation pathways, their signalling context, and their role in antibiotic production. Using the deep dive strategy in order to understand this pathway in Streptomyces would have multiple benefits: opening the doors to the new tool for manipulating the Streptomyces metabolism, lead the way to new lines of basic research, discovery and practical applications – such as new antibiotic compounds.