Identification of an unusual type II thioesterase in the dithiolopyrrolone antibiotics biosynthetic pathway

• Cloning of the aureothricin biosynthetic gene cluster from Streptomyces thioluteus DSM 40027.
• Identification of the aureothricin gene cluster by heterologous expression and in-frame gene deletion.
• The heterogenetic thioesterase HlmK significantly improved dithiolopyrrolones production of the aureothricin gene cluster.
• Identification of HlmK as an unusual type II thioesterase.

Dithiolopyrrolone group antibiotics characterized by an electronically unique dithiolopyrrolone heterobicyclic core are known for their antibacterial, antifungal, insecticidal and antitumor activities. Recently the biosynthetic gene clusters for two dithiolopyrrolone compounds, holomycin and thiomarinol, have been identified respectively in different bacterial species. Here, we report a novel dithiolopyrrolone biosynthetic gene cluster (aut) isolated from Streptomyces thioluteus DSM 40027 which produces two pyrrothine derivatives, aureothricin and thiolutin. By comparison with other characterized dithiolopyrrolone clusters, eight genes in the aut cluster were verified to be responsible for the assembly of dithiolopyrrolone core. The aut cluster was further confirmed by heterologous expression and in-frame gene deletion experiments. Intriguingly, we found that the heterogenetic thioesterase HlmK derived from the holomycin (hlm) gene cluster in Streptomyces clavuligerus significantly improved heterologous biosynthesis of dithiolopyrrolones in Streptomyces albus through coexpression with the aut cluster. In the previous studies, HlmK was considered invalid because it has a Ser to Gly point mutation within the canonical Ser-His-Asp catalytic triad of thioesterases. However, gene inactivation and complementation experiments in our study unequivocally demonstrated that HlmK is an active distinctive type II thioesterase that plays a beneficial role in dithiolopyrrolone biosynthesis.