Volatile communication in Actinobacteria: a language for secondary metabolism regulation

Volatile compounds are key elements in the interaction and communication between organisms at both interspecific and intraspecific levels. In complex bacterial communities, the emission of these fast-acting chemical messengers allows an exchange of information even at a certain distance that can cause different types of responses in the receiving organisms. The changes in secondary metabolism as a consequence of this interaction arouse great interest in the field of searching for bioactive compounds since they can be used as a tool to activate silenced metabolic pathways. Regarding the great metabolic potential that the Actinobacteria group presents in the production of compounds with attractive properties, we evaluated the reply the emitted volatile compounds can generate in other individuals of the same group.

We recently reported that volatile compounds released by different streptomycete species trigger the modulation of biosynthetic gene clusters in Streptomyces spp. which finally leads to the activation/repression of the production of secondary metabolites in the recipient strains. Here we present the application of this rationale in a broader bacterial community to evaluate volatiles as signaling effectors that drive the activation of biosynthesis of bioactive compounds in other members of the Actinobacteria group. Using cocultures of different actinobacteria (where only the volatile compounds reach the recipient strain) we were able to modify the bacterial secondary metabolism that drives overproduction (e.g., granaticins, actiphenol, chromomycins) and/or de novo production (e.g., collismycins, skyllamycins, cosmomycins) of compounds belonging to different chemical species that present important biological activities.

This work shows how the secondary metabolism of different Actinobacteria species can vary significantly when exposed in co-culture to the volatile compounds of other phylum-shared bacteria, these effects being variable depending on strains and culture media. This approach can be applied to the field of new drug discovery to increase the battery of bioactive compounds produced by bacteria that can potentially be used in treatments for humans and animals.