Increased yield of AP-3 by inactivation of asm25 in Actinosynnema pretiosum ssp. auranticum ATCC 31565

PLoS One. 2022 Mar 22;17(3):e0265517. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265517. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Asamitocins are maytansinoids produced by Actinosynnema pretiosum ssp. auranticum ATCC 31565 (A. pretiosum ATCC 31565), which have a structure similar to that of maytansine, therefore serving as a precursor of maytansine in the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Currently, there are more than 20 known derivatives of ansamitocins, among which ansamitocin P-3 (AP-3) exhibits the highest antitumor activity. Despite its importance, the application of AP-3 is restricted by low yield, likely due to a substrate competition mechanism underlying the synthesis pathways of AP-3 and its byproducts. Given that N-demethylansamitocin P-3, the precursor of AP-3, is regulated by asm25 and asm10 to synthesize AGP-3 and AP-3, respectively, asm25 is predicted to be an inhibitory gene for AP-3 production. In this study, we inactivated asm25 in A. pretiosum ATCC 31565 by CRISPR-Cas9-guided gene editing. asm25 depletion resulted in a more than 2-fold increase in AP-3 yield. Surprisingly, the addition of isobutanol further improved AP-3 yield in the asm25 knockout strain by more than 6 times; in contrast, only a 1.53-fold increase was found in the WT strain under the parallel condition. Thus, we uncovered an unknown function of asm25 in AP-3 yield and identified asm25 as a promising target to enhance the large-scale industrial production of AP-3.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Actinobacteria* / metabolism
  • Biosynthetic Pathways / genetics
  • Maytansine* / analogs & derivatives
  • Maytansine* / pharmacology

Substances

  • Maytansine
  • ansamitocins

Supplementary concepts

  • Actinosynnema pretiosum

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a fund from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31900669) to H. D.