SEQUENCE AND TRANSCRIPTIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE STREPTOMYCES-GLAUCESCENS TCMAR TETRACENOMYCIN-C RESISTANCE AND REPRESSOR GENE LOCI

Sequence analysis of the tcmA tetracenomycin C resistance gene from Streptomyces glaucescens GLA.O (ETH 22794) identifies one large open reading frame whose deduced product has sequence similarity to the mmr methylenomycin resistance gene from Streptomyces coelicolor, the Streptomyces rimosus tet347 (otrB) tetracycline resistance gene, and the atr1 aminotriazole resistance gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These genes are thought to encode proteins that act as metabolite export pumps powered by transmembrane electrochemical gradients. A divergently transcribed gene, tcmR, is located in the region upstream of tcmA. The deduced product of tcmR resembles the repressor proteins encoded by tetR regulatory genes from Escherichia coli and the actII-orf1 gene from S. coelicolor. Transcriptional analysis of tcmA and tcmR indicates that these genes have back-to-back and overlapping promoter regions.