Abstract
The explosive increase in genome sequencing and the advances in bioinformatic tools have revolutionized the rationale for natural product discovery from actinomycetes. In particular, this has revealed that actinomycete genomes contain numerous orphan gene clusters that have the potential to specify many yet unknown bioactive specialized metabolites, representing a huge unexploited pool of chemical diversity. Here, we describe the discovery of a novel group of catecholate-hydroxamate siderophores termed qinichelins (2-5) from Streptomyces sp. MBT76. Correlation between the metabolite levels and the protein expression profiles identified the biosynthetic gene cluster (named qch) most likely responsible for qinichelin biosynthesis. The structure of the molecules was elucidated by bioinformatics, mass spectrometry, and NMR. The genome of Streptomyces sp. MBT76 contains three gene clusters for the production of catecholate-peptide siderophores, including a separate cluster for the production of a shared catecholate precursor. In addition, an operon in the qch cluster was identified for the production of the ornithine precursor for qinichelins, independent of primary metabolism. This biosynthetic complexity provides new insights into the challenges scientists face when applying synthetic biology approaches for natural product discovery.