A novel two-component system amrB-amkB involved in the regulation of central carbohydrate metabolism in rifamycin SV-producing Amycolatopsis mediterranei U32.

A novel two-component signal transduction system amrB-amkB was cloned from rifamycin SV-producing Amycolatopsis mediterranei U32, and their biochemical functions as a response regulator and a histidine protein kinase, respectively, were proven. The amrB disruption mutant was generated by insertional inactivation with the aparmycin resistance gene. The metabolic response to the absence of amrB gene was determined by a biochemical profiling technique in which the concentration changes of metabolic intermediates were measured by gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC/TOF-MS). Although the phenotype analyses of the amrB gene disruption mutant showed no significant change with respect to rifamycin SV production and morphological differentiation, the global metabolomic analyses found the concentration levels of some key intermediates in the TCA cycle and glycolysis pathway were affected by an amrB gene disruption event. The primary results suggested that amrB-amkB genes might be involved in the regulation of central carbohydrate metabolism in A. mediterranei U32.