Production of kanosamine by Bacillus cereus UW85

Bacillus cereus UW85 produces two antibiotics that contribute to its ability to suppress certain plant diseases (L. Silo-Suh, B. Lethbridge, S. J. Raffel, H. He, J. Clardy, and J. Handelsman, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 60:2023-2030, 1994). To enhance the understanding of disease suppression by UW85, we determined the chemical structure, regulation, and the target range of one of the antibiotics. The antibiotic was identified as 3-amino-3-deoxy-D-glucose, also known as kanosamine. Kanosamine was highly inhibitory to growth of plant-pathogenic oomycetes and moderately inhibitory to certain fungi and inhibited few bacterial species tested. Maximum accumulation of kanosamine in B. cereus UW85 culture supernatants coincided with sporulation. Kanosamine accumulation was enhanced by the addition of ferric iron and suppressed by addition of phosphate to rich medium. Kanosamine accumulation was also enhanced more than 300% by the addition of alfalfa seedling exudate to minimal medium.