PRODUCTION OF THE LANTIBIOTIC CINNAMYCIN WITH GENES ISOLATED FROM STREPTOMYCES CINNAMONEUS

摘要

A 17kb nucleic acid fragment, which confers production of the lantibiotic cinnamycin on non-producer Streptomycete strains, has been isolated from Streptomyces cinnamoneus cinnamoneus DSM 40005 and characterised. Also provided are variants of the 17kb fragment including variants in which non-essential genes are deleted and variants in which the propeptide sequence of the cinnamycin structural gene is altered, for example replaced with the propeptide sequence of similar B-type lantibiotics. Also provided are vectors, host cells and methods of lantibiotic production using the nucleic acid of the invention, and libraries of variants.