DNA SEQUENCES FOR ENZYMATIC SYNTHESIS OF POLYKETIDE OR HETEROPOLYKETIDE COMPOUNDS

摘要

The invention consists of: (1) cloned Sorangium cellulosum polyketide synthase (PKS) biosynthetic cluster DNA; and (2) the nucleotide sequence and predicted protein coding sequences of the cloned DNA. The invention can be used for, but not limited to: (a) increasing yields of PKS product in Sorangium cellulosum (e.g., by amplification or genetic modification of the epothilone gene cluster or its component parts); (b) increasing yields of polyketide product in a heterologous system by transfer of the epothilone gene cluster or its component parts, which may be followed by amplification or genetic modification of the PKS gene cluster or its component parts; (c) modification of the polyketide product chemical structure in either Sorangium cellulosum or a heterologous host (e.g., by genetic modification of the epothilone gene cluster or its component parts; and (d) for the detection of genes and gene products involved in making polyketides or related molecules in other organisms (e.g., by hybridization or complementation assays). DNA sequence and analysis is presented for the following cosmids and plasmids: A2 cosmid; the pEPOcos6 region (overlapping of pEPOcos6 and pEPOcos7); pEPOcos8 cosmid; A5 cosmid; Sau4 (10 kb plasmid).