Hybrid anthracyclines from a genetically engineered Streptomyces galilaeus mutant

The genetic engineering of antibiotic-producing Streptomyces strains is an approach that is emerging and ready to become established as a successful methodology in developing analogues of the original, pharmaceutically important, natural products obtained from the organisms. The current report highlights this succes by demonstrating the high-level production of novel anthracyclines. The biosynthetic pathways of the nogalamycin-producing Streptomyces nogalater and the aclacinomycin-producing S. galilaeus were combined by transferring the genes of S. nogalater polyketide synthetase into a nonproducing S. galilaeus mutant. The resulting anthracycline antibiotics that were produced possessed structural features characteristic of compounds from both of the undoctored Streptomycesstrains.