THE TCMVI REGION OF THE TETRACENOMYCIN-C BIOSYNTHETIC GENE-CLUSTER OF STREPTOMYCES-GLAUCESCENS ENCODES THE TETRACENOMYCIN F1 MONOOXYGENASE, TETRACENOMYCIN F2 CYCLASE, AND, MOST LIKELY, A 2ND CYCLASE

Certain mutations in the tcmVI region of the Streptomyces glaucescens chromosome affect formation of the D ring of the polyketide antibiotic tetracenomycin C (TCM C). This region lies immediately upstream from the TCM C polyketide synthase genes (tcmKLM), and the nucleotide sequence reveals the presence of three small genes, tcmH, tcmI, and tcmJ. On the basis of the phenotypes of mutants and the effects of these genes, when coupled on a plasmid with the tcmKLMN(177) genes (tcmN(177) is a 3'-truncated version of tcmN), on the production of TCM intermediates in a TCM(-) mutant, the tcmH gene encodes the C-5 monooxygenase that converts TCM F1 to TCM D3, the tcmI gene encodes the D-ring cyclase that converts TCM F2 to TCM F1 (mutations in this gene are responsible for the type VI phenotype), and the tcmJ gene most likely encodes the B-ring cyclase that acts in the biosynthesis of TCM F2. Furthermore, it appears that the N-terminal domain of the tcmN gene product (encoded by the tcmN(177) gene) acts later in the biosynthesis of TCM F2 than the product of tcmJ, suggesting that the N-terminal domain of the TcmN protein is the C-ring cyclase