Evaluation of the effect of heavy metals on the induction of Rubromycins production by Streptomyces Caat 8-18

• Grant number: 23/17689-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2024
• End date: December 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Organic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Alberto Beraldo de Moraes
• Grantee: Thainá Santos Peralta
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Microorganisms are an inexhaustible and important source of bioactive secondary metabolites with different modes of action. Actinobacteria have been shown to be efficient in carrying out the biosynthesis of a wide variety of bioactive secondary metabolites, especially antibiotics. Various strategies have been applied for the activation of microbial cryptic pathways, such as OSMAC, heterologous and homologous expression, co-cultivation and ribosomal engineering. The requested scientific initiation project has as its main objective the application of the OSMAC methodology through the addition of heavy metals such as iron, copper, aluminum, cobalt and manganese, as agents inducing the production of antibiotics from the rubromycin class. Preliminary data from our research group showed that the actinobacteria CAAT 8-18 is a producing source of five rubromycins and that this crude extract showed inhibitory activity on the growth of the phytopathogenic bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum, an important disease in agriculture. In this context, the main objective of this project is to evaluate the effect of heavy metals such as lead, iron, nickel, zinc, manganese and cobalt in inducing the production of rubromycins, as well as the isolation and structural characterization of the molecules produced.