Nitrogen occurs in all organisms and is one of the four (N, P, C,S) fundamental elements required for the production of nearly all macromolecules of the cell for example DNA, RNA, proteins, peptidoglycan as well as primary and secondary metabolites. Generally, 1 g of bacterial cell mass comprises of 50 mg of nitrogen which reflects high need of this element during growth. In particular, nitrogen is one of the bioelements which is only poorly accessible in the natural environment. On the other hand, if nitrogen-containing compounds are becoming available for the non-motile streptomyces, they have to react promptly on rapid changes. Therefore, streptomyces require complex machinery regulating the nitrogen metabolism under different growth conditions as well as a number of versatile enzymes ensuring efficient assimilation of nitrogen.
Work in our group focuses on the nitrogen control in antibiotic producing actinomyces:
• Streptomyces coelicolor M145, a model organism for Streptomyces
• Streptomyces tsukubaensis NRRL 18488 , a tacrolimus producer
• Microbispora sp. ATCC-PTA-5024, a lantibiotic (NAI-107) producer