Identification and sequence analysis of the genes encoding a polyketide synthase required for pyoluteorin...

Pyoluteorin is a chlorinated antifungal metabolite of mixed polyketide/amino-acid origin produced by certain strains of Pseudomonas spp., including the soil bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf-5. Sequence analysis of a gene cluster required for pyoluteorin biosynthesis by Pf-5 (Kraus, J., Loper, J., 1995. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 61, 849-854) has identified two genes whose deduced peptide sequences exhibit characteristics of both fungal and bacterial Type I polyketide synthases (PKSs). The pyoluteorin PKS does not contain a loading domain that is typically present in bacterial Type I PKSs. Furthermore, this PKS possesses an acyltransferase domain that does not contain the conserved residues surrounding the active-site motif typically found in domains of similar function. Based on the organization of the functional domains within the pyoluteorin PKS, we propose a biosynthetic pathway analogous to non-aromatic polyketide biosynthesis within the Actinomycete bacteria that is responsible for the formation of the resorcinol moiety of pyoluteorin.