Staurosporine, belonging to indolocarbazole compounds, is regarded as an excellent lead compound for synthesizing antitumor agents as a potent inhibitor against various protein kinases. In this study, two separate clusters(cluster A and cluster B),corresponding to biosyntheses of K-252 c(staurosporine aglycone) and sugar moiety, were identified in Streptomyces fradiae CGMCC 4.576 and heterologously expressed in Streptomyces coelicolor M1146 separately or together. Sta R, a cluster-situated LAL family regulator, activates staurosporine biosynthesis by binding to the promoter regions of sta O-sta C and sta G-sta N. The conserved sequences GGGGG and GCGCG were found through gradually truncating promoters of sta O and sta G, and further determined by mutational experiments. Overexpression of sta R with the supplementation of 0.01 g L^–1 Fe SO4 increased staurosporine production to 5.2-fold compared with that of the parental strain Streptomyces fradiae CGMCC 4.576 in GYM medium. Our results provided an approach for improvement of staurosporine production mediated by a positive regulator and established the basis for dissecting the regulatory mechanisms of other indolocarbazole compounds with clinical application value.
Hanye GuanYue LiJiazhen ZhengNing LiuJihui ZhangHuarong Tan
