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Big effects from small changes: possible ways to explore nature's chemical diversity
Helge Björn Bode1, Barbara Bethe, Regina Höfs
1Universität Göttingen Institut für Organische Chemie Biomolekulare Chemie Tammannstrasse 2, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
Chembiochem : a European Journal of Chemical Biology
|September 27, 2002
Summary
The One Strain-Many Compounds (OSMAC) approach systematically alters cultivation parameters to discover diverse secondary metabolites from single microbial strains. This method enhances natural product discovery, yielding up to 20 compounds per strain.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Natural Product Chemistry
- Biotechnology
Background:
- Microbial strains can produce multiple secondary metabolites.
- Previous methods for inducing biosynthesis were limited.
- A comprehensive overview of discovering diverse compounds from single strains was lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically alter cultivation parameters to increase the number of secondary metabolites from a single microbial source.
- To introduce the 'One Strain-Many Compounds' (OSMAC) approach for natural product discovery.
- To compare the OSMAC approach with industrial high-throughput screening.
Main Methods:
- Systematic alteration of cultivation parameters including media composition, aeration, and culture vessel.
- Addition of enzyme inhibitors to modulate biosynthesis.
- Application of the OSMAC approach to microbial cultures.
Main Results:
- Isolated up to 20 different secondary metabolites from a single organism.
- Achieved production titers up to 2.6 g L(-1).
- Compounds covered major natural product families, with high titers enabling semisynthetic modifications.
Conclusions:
- The OSMAC approach effectively reveals chemical diversity from microbial strains.
- OSMAC is a valuable alternative to industrial high-throughput screening, which can miss potential lead compounds.
- This approach provides insights into the role of secondary metabolism in microbial communities and evolution.