<p>Natural products remain a major source of antibiotics, but discovery efforts have traditionally treated biosynthetic gene clusters as sources of individual bioactive molecules<sup><CitationRef AdditionalCitationIDS="CR2 CR3 CR4" CitationID="CR1">1</CitationRef>–<CitationRef CitationID="CR5">5</CitationRef></sup>. Increasing evidence has suggested that microorganisms can instead encode coordinated multi-metabolite systems, yet the genetic architectures and biological logic of such systems remain poorly understood<sup><CitationRef AdditionalCitationIDS="CR7 CR8 CR9 CR10 CR11" CitationID="CR6">6</CitationRef>–<CitationRef CitationID="CR12">12</CitationRef></sup>. Here we show that <i>Streptomyces</i> spp. encode a highly conserved biosynthetic megacluster that produces four structurally distinct natural product families—stravidins, acidomycin, dapamycins, and 2-methyl-7-keto-8-aminopelargonic acid (α-Me-KAPA)—alongside the biotin-binding protein streptavidin. These components converge on bacterial biotin metabolism through complementary mechanisms, including enzyme inhibition, prodrug activation, cofactor mimicry and biotin sequestration. The encoded metabolites are co-produced and act synergistically across Gram-negative and mycobacterial species, with stravidin S2 and α-Me-KAPA showing enhanced efficacy in combination in a mouse model of multidrug-resistant <i>Escherichia coli</i> infection. This megacluster reveals a genetically encoded chemical arsenal that functions as a naturally evolved combination therapy against a conserved metabolic pathway. More broadly, our findings suggest that higher-order biosynthetic architectures may represent an overlooked reservoir of antibiotic mechanisms and support a shift from discovering isolated natural products to reconstructing native synergistic systems.</p>

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A Streptomyces megacluster encodes synergistic biotin-targeting antibiotics

  • R. Gordzevich,
  • M. Xu,
  • W. Wang,
  • M. A. Cook,
  • D. Hackenberger,
  • J. P. Deisinger,
  • M. M. Tu,
  • L. A. Carfrae,
  • M. George,
  • K. Rachwalski,
  • K. Koteva,
  • D. Sychantha,
  • A. Wei,
  • G. D. Wright,
  • E. D. Brown

摘要

Natural products remain a major source of antibiotics, but discovery efforts have traditionally treated biosynthetic gene clusters as sources of individual bioactive molecules15. Increasing evidence has suggested that microorganisms can instead encode coordinated multi-metabolite systems, yet the genetic architectures and biological logic of such systems remain poorly understood612. Here we show that Streptomyces spp. encode a highly conserved biosynthetic megacluster that produces four structurally distinct natural product families—stravidins, acidomycin, dapamycins, and 2-methyl-7-keto-8-aminopelargonic acid (α-Me-KAPA)—alongside the biotin-binding protein streptavidin. These components converge on bacterial biotin metabolism through complementary mechanisms, including enzyme inhibition, prodrug activation, cofactor mimicry and biotin sequestration. The encoded metabolites are co-produced and act synergistically across Gram-negative and mycobacterial species, with stravidin S2 and α-Me-KAPA showing enhanced efficacy in combination in a mouse model of multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli infection. This megacluster reveals a genetically encoded chemical arsenal that functions as a naturally evolved combination therapy against a conserved metabolic pathway. More broadly, our findings suggest that higher-order biosynthetic architectures may represent an overlooked reservoir of antibiotic mechanisms and support a shift from discovering isolated natural products to reconstructing native synergistic systems.