Increased sensitivity to chloramphenicol by inactivation of manB in Streptomyces coelicolor

Phosphomannomutase (ManB) is involved in the biosynthesis of GDP-mannose, which is vital for numerous processes such as synthesis of carbohydrates, production of alginates and ascorbic acid, and post-translational modification of proteins. Here, we discovered that a deletion mutant of manB (BG101) in Streptomyces coelicolor (S. coelicolor) showed higher sensitivity to bacteriostatic chloramphenicol (CM) than the wild-type strain (M145), along with decreased production of CM metabolites. Deletion of manB also decreased the mRNA expression level of drug efflux pumps (i.e., cmlR1 and cmlR2) in S. coelicolor, resulting in increased sensitivity to CM. This is the first report on changes in antibiotic sensitivity to CM by deletion of one glycolysis-related enzyme in S. coelicolor, and the results suggest different approaches for studying the antibiotic-resistant mechanism and its regulation.