PROCESS FOR PRODUCING ANTHRACYCLINES AND INTERMEDIATES THEREOF

Abstract: The present invention pertains to a process for producing anthracyclines and intermediates thereof by expressing in a foreign Streptomyces host a DNA fragment relating to the biosynthetic pathway of anthracyclines and, if desired, the intermediates obtained are converted to anthracyclines or aglycones thereof using e.g. non-producing Streptomyces mutant strains.

Description: Process for producing anthracyclines and intermediates thereof The present invention pertains to a process for producing anthracyclines and interme¬ diates thereof by expressing in a foreign host a DNA fragment relating to the biosynthetic pathway of anthracyclines and, if desired, the intermediates obtained are converted to anthracyclines or aglycones thereof using non-producing mutant strains. Polyketide antibiotics are a broad and variable group of compounds which are composed of poly-β-ketomethylene chain [CHRO],^. A common feature of poly- ketides is their biosynthetic route which is similar to the biosynthesis of fatty acids. Katz, L. and Donadio, S. (1993) have recently published a review article concerning polyketides. As their structure the antibiotics of anthracycline group are aromatic polyketides, the common structural body of which is 7,8,9J0-tetrahydro-5J2- naphthacene kinone of the general formula (A) To this structural body one or more sugars and other substituents are attached. The structural body of the molecule, to which the sugars are attached, is called an aglycone. Anthracyclines are discussed more specifically e.g. in the article of A. Fujiwara and T. Hoshino (1986). Several anthracyclines are cytostatically active and thus they are of continuous interest. To find new anthracyclines screening of Streptomyces bacteria from the soil and mutation thereof are used. To modify known anthracyclines synthetic methods have been used, whereby chemical groups are added to or removed from either the aglycone or the sugar moiety. Similarly, biotransformation is used, wherein in living cells molecules are modified which have been produced by other production strains or by synthetic methods. Some anthracyclines have also been produced by synthetic methods. The hybrid antibiotic technology has been disclosed as a new technology in the preparation of new antibiotics. It has been established to comprise production by genetic engineering of molecules which have structural features of natural products of two strains. The process is described in the publication of H.G. Floss: "Hybrid antibiotics - the contribution of the new gene combinations" (1987). The hybrid antibiotic technology gives an opportunity to controlled production of new compounds. Cloning of actinorhodin genes from Streptomyces coelicolor (Hopwood et al., 1985) can be considered as the pioneer work in the molecular biological study of polyketide antibiotics and at the same time of streptomycetes. In 1987 Malpartida et al. reported about the hybridization of different polyketide producers to the αctl and αctiπ DNA fragments and thereafter genes of the polyketide synthase (PKS) domain have been identified in many Streptomyces species exploiting the homology. Sequencing of these genes has shown that the genes are strongly conserved and include three Open Reading Frames, ORF 1, 2 and 3. The products of these three genes are needed for the formation of the linear polyketide bound to the enzyme complex. For the optimal formation of the correct product encoded by the PKS-genes five ORFs are needed in tetracenomycin (Shen and Hutchinson, 1993). The sequenced aromatic PKSs are given in Table 1. Table 1. Cloned and sequenced gene domains encoding polyketide synthase of aromatic polyketide antibiotics Strain Product Reference S. coelicolor aktinorhodin Fernandez-Moreno, M.A. et al. 1992 Hallam, S.E. et al. 1988 S. violaceoruber granaticine Sherman, D.H. et al. 1989 S. glaucescens tetracenomycin Bibb, MJ. et al. 1989 S. rimosus oxitetracycline Kim, E-S. et al. 1994 S. cinnamonensis monensine Arrowsmith, TJ. et al. 1992 S. griseus griseusine Yu, T-W. et al. 1994 S. roseofulvus frenolisine Bibb, MJ. et al. 1994 Polyketide synthase (PKS) is a multienzyme complex which functionally reminds the synthase of long chain fatty acids. The separate components of actinorhodin PKS are so called actORFl ketoacyl synthase (KS); actORF2 homologous to KS may effect on the length of the polyketide chain (McDaniel, R., et al., 1993); actORF3 acyl carrier protein (ACP); actORF5 ketoreductase (KR) and actORF4 cyclase/dehydrase, which may be responsible for the aromatization of the first ring. The most part of the biosynthetic anthracyclines are formed via the aklavinone intermediate phase, whereafter the compound is glycosylated or it is modified by adding e.g. hydroxyl or methyl groups. Modifications can occur also after the glycosylation. The biosynthesis of aklavinone and anthracyclines which are further formed therefrom are described e.g. in "Advances in bioconversion of anthracycline antibiotics" (1989) of U. Grafe et al., and in the references cited therein. The biosynthetic route of the nogalamycin aglycone being formed of ten acetates is evidently analogous to the biosynthesis of aklavinone. (Figures 1A and IB). Description of the invention A DNA fragment cloned from Streptomyces nogalater can be used according to this invention to combine the different phases of the biosynthetic route of anthracyclines, whereby hybrid anthracyclines and precursors of anthracyclines can be produced. This happens by transferring the cloned DNA fragment to a Streptomyces strain which produces anthracyclines or, alternatively, to a non-producer of anthracyclines. The DNA fragment of Streptomyces nogalater including in the biosynthesis of anthracycline and being cloned according to this invention caused surprisingly production of anthracycline precursors in S. lividans, a host which does not produce anthracyclines. On the basis of the structures of the compounds obtained, the DNA fragment was supposed to include most of the genes needed for the biosynthesis of anthracycline aglycones. By complementation of mutant strains, analyzing the hybrid products and sequencing the DNA fragments we have been able to show that the DNA fragment comprises - the activity responsible for the election of the starting unit which defines the side chain of the 9-position (S. galilaeus hybrid products), the polyketide synthase genes, the gene of the enzyme which is needed for removing the hydroxyl in 2- position, (ketoreductase), - the methyl transferase gene needed for the carboxylic acid esterification, the mono-oxygenase gene. This DNA fragment and anthracycline precursors produced by it have further been used to produce hybrid anthracyclines. The present invention enables one to produce some known cytostatically active anthracyclines (auramycins) as well as prior unknown compounds. Use of the polyketide synthase of anthracyclines in the production of hybrid anthracyclines has not been described previously, neither the change of the starting unit of polyketide synthesis by transferring genes to a foreign host. Further, there is no prior disclosure of the cloning of genes of the biosynthetic pathway of nogalamycin produced by S. nogalater, or use thereof. The similarity of the biosynthetic genes of polyketide antibiotics disclosed by Malpartida et al. (1987) was the starting point to the discovery of the biosynthetic genes of nogalamycin. The total DNA of S. nogalater being cleaved by suitable restriction enzymes was hybridized by the Southern-techniques to the acti probe, and thus two hybridizing DNA fragments were obtained. In an optimal case a suitable probe shows one DNA fragment. The use of cross hybridization was, however, considered to be possible as a strategy in identifying the biosynthetic genes, because the signals were strong. The strategy by which the DNA fragment according to the invention was found was the following: A fragment homologous to the acti fragment described by Malpartida et al. (1987) was isolated from S. nogalater. Said homologous fragment and flanking DNA fragments were transferred into a S. lividans strain TK24. Altogether about 20 kb (=kilobase, 1000 bases) were transferred in five fragments into a foreign host. Of these an about 12 kb DNA fragment, pSY15, causes the production of nogalamycin intermediates in S. lividans. The recombinant strain obtained was cultivated in a nutrient medium used for anthracycline producers and the product was extracted by suitable organic solvents. DNA fragments according to the invention were transferred into Streptomyces strains described hereinafter as well as to S. galilaeus mutants H028, JH003, H061, H036 and H039 given in Table 2, and expressed in them. Said DNA fragments can corres¬ pondingly be transferred to other mutants mentioned in the table, depending on what kind of products are desired. Streptomyces lividans 66, strain TK24, restriction-modification-free strain. Streptomyces galilaeus ATCC 31615, produces aklacinomycin. Mutants of Streptomyces galilaeus ATCC 31615 (cf. Table 2) (Ylihonko et al, 1994). Table 2. The products of Streptomyces galilaeus mutants; abbreviations used: Akn=aklavinone, aglycone moiety of aclacinomycins; Rhn=rhodosamine; dF=deoxyfucose, CinA=Cinerulose A; Rho=rhodinose Mutant Product Description of mutation H028 No production Mutation in PKS-domain JH003 No production Mutation in PKS-domain H061 2-θH-A lanone acid No removal of 2-OH H036 Methyl ester of The fourth ring does not get closed aklanone acid H039 l)A lavinone Amino sugar is missing. 2)Λ a-Rho-Rbo H038 Akn-Rhn Mutation in glycosylation H026 A n-Rhn-dF-Rho Oxidoreductase is missing H035 Not identified Mutation in the glycosylation H054 l)Akn-Rho-dF-CinA Amino sugar is missing 2)Akn-dF-dF-CinA 3)Alσι-Rho-dF-Rho 4)A n-Rho-dF 5)Akn-dF-dF When producing the starting product for biotransformation the host used is preferably S. lividans, because it does not itself produce coloured or extractable compounds in the growth conditions used. When producing an aglycone for biotransformation the bacterial strains producing anthracyclines or non-producing mutants thereof are preferably used, most preferably non-producing mutants of S. galilaeus being transformed with plasmid pSY15 (Fig. 3), carrying the above mentioned 12 kb DNA fragment. When converting the anthracycline precursors obtained using the plasmid pSY15 to anthracyclines or their aglycones, S. galilaeus mutants, e.g. strains JH003 or H028, which do not produce aclarubicin are preferably used. The DNA-constructions according to the present invention can be constructed by ligating suitable DNA fragments from the domain as described to a suitable vector. Such a vector is preferably the high copy number plasmid pIJ486 capable to amplify in several strains of the genus Streptomyces (Ward et al., 1986). To produce anthracyclines and their precursors strains carrying the pSY15 plasmid are grown preferably in growth media for Streptomyces bacteria, preferably in El- medium, to which thiosfrepton has been added to maintain the plasmid carrying strains. The strains axe grown in conditions which are advantageous to the producing strain, e.g. in a shaker in bottles, or in a fermenter which is stirred and aerated. After a suitable cultivation time, preferably after 2-7 days the products are isolated according to methods described for bacterial metabolites, preferably e.g. extracting with a suitable solvent, e.g. toluene or chloroform. The extracted compounds are purified with suitable methods e.g. by using column chromatography. Anthracycline precursors are converted to anthracyclines in strains naturally producing anthracyclines, or mutants thereof. Compounds similar to those naturally produced by the strain are thus obtained, having methyl in their 9-position and hydrogen in their 2-position. In biotransformations auramycinone produced by a S. galilaeus strain carrying the plasmid ρSY15 is most suitably used as the starting compound, or methyl ester of nogalonic acid produced by a strain carrying the same plasmid which naturally does not produce anthracyclines. In biotransformations most preferably non-producing mutants of anthracycline production strains are used, e.g. mutant H028 or JH003. Biotransformation is effected most preferably by cultivating a strain in a suitable liquid production medium, e.g. in El -medium, and by adding anthracycline precursors in suitable amounts. After a suitable time, e.g. 6 to 48 hours, most preferably 16 to 32 hours, the anthracyclines so formed are extracted. The strains used for transformation (cf. also Table 2) are described in the following. TK24 is a S. lividans strain which in the growth conditions used does not produce coloured secondary metabolites. In other growth conditions it produces actinorhodin, which is an antibiotic differing very much from anthracyclines. The strain does not produce any anthracyclines nor their precursors. When characterizing the products of TK24/pSY15 on the basis of NMR-spectrum compound I was obtained as the primary product, which is possibly an intermediate of anthracycline biosynthesis (cf. Scheme I)- H028 is a mutant of Streptomyces galilaeus which does not as such produce anthracyclines or their precursors. However, this strain can be used in biotransforma¬ tions to convert anthracycline precursors to products similar to aclarubicin. When characterizing H028/pSY15 products it was found that this strain produces auramy- cinone (Compound II), which is an anthracycline aglycone similar to aklavinone, as well as auramycins which are glycosides of auramycinone, e.g. Compound III. When hydrolyzing auramycins auramycinone is obtained, which also shows that the compounds produced are glycosides of auramycinone. Auramycinone is a useful precursor of anthracyclines, when new anthracyclines are produced by biotransformati¬ on. Auramycins have been described to be cytostatic anthracyclines having possible use in cancer chemotherapy. The use of H028/pSY15 for the production of these is new. H061 is a Streptomyces galilaeus mutant, which produces 2-OH-aklanone acid. This is evidently due to a mutation which prevents removal of the hydroxyl in 2-position. H061/pSY15 produces aklavinone, auramycinone and their glycosides similar to aclarubicin. According to the result pSY15 complements the mutation of H061 and comprises thus the gene encoding the 2-position dehydroxylase. This is useful in producing new hybrid compounds when transformed to a strain the products of which naturally have hydroxyl or a methoxy group in 2-position. On the basis of the results pSY15 is useful in producing precursors of anthracyclines in strains which naturally do riot produce anthracyclines, or when producing hybrid anthracyclines in strains which produce anthracyclines, or in mutants thereof. With it the formation of 9-position side chain can be affected so that the strains which provide a two carbon side chain at this position, do produce compounds which have a one carbon side chain at said position. Possible strains producing anthracyclines which can be modified this way are e.g. S. galilaeus, S. peucetius and S. purpurascens. The anthracycline precursors produced this way are useful in producing new anthracyclines by biotransformations. pSY15 can also be transferred to a strain which normally produces compounds which at 2-position have hydroxyl or a methoxy group. Thereby compounds are obtained which have hydrogen at this position. pSY15 enables also one to produce previously described auramycinone and its glycosides by the new method. In the following the detailed embodiments of the invention are described as examples of isolation of the DNA fragment from S. nogalater strain ATCC 27451, production of nogalamycin precursors in S. lividans strain TK24, production of auramycinone in the mutant H028 and their modification to anthracyclines in the mutant JH003. In addition, expression of the DNA fragments according to the invention in the mutants of the strain S. galilaeus is described, as well as the compounds produced by these strains. The main products of the strains TK24/pSY15, JH003/pSY15, H028/pSY15 and H061/pSY15 were characterized. Brief description of drawings Fig. 1A Anthracyclines produced by Streptomyces strains, and identified precursors thereof. (Starting molecule: propionate.) The numbers of S. galilaeus mutant strains producing the intermediates are given in parentheses. Fig. IB Anthracyclines produced by Streptomyces strains having acetate as the starting molecule. Fig. 2 Restriction map of the 12 kb continuous DNA fragment cloned from S. nogalater genome. The figure discloses also the inserts contained in the pSY plasmids obtained. Plasmid pIJ486 has been used in preparing the pSY vectors. On the basis of sequence comparisons the following functions have been obtained for the open reading frames shown in the figure: 1 = ketoacylsynthase-acyltransf erase, 2 = Chain Length Controlling Factor (CLF), 3 = acyl transferring protein; A and B = regulatory genes, C = mono-oxygenase, D = methyl transferase, E = ketoreductase. Fig. 3 Structure of the plasmid pSY15. Fig. 4 NMR-spectrum of compound I. Fig. 5 NMR-spectrum of auramycinone. Fig. 6 NMR-spectrum of auramycinone-rhodosamine-deoxyfucose. Fig. 7 NMR-spectrum of auramycinone-rhodinose-deoxyfucose. Materials used Bacterial strains and plasmids The strain Streptomyces nogalater ATCC 27451 was used as the donor of genes. The Streptomyces bacterial strains used in this work as hosts are listed above. The treatments of S. nogalater DNA were effected in the E. coli strain XLl-Blue (recAl, endAl, gyrA96, thi-l, hsdRH, supE44, re/Al, lac, [FproAB, laclZΛMIS, Tn/O (tcf)] (Sfratagene Cloning Systems, California). E. coli strains GM2163 (E. coli Genetic Stock Center, Department of Biology 255 ΟML, Yale University, New Haven, USA) and LΕ392 (Promega) were used in preparing the gene bank and in amplifying the phage DNA. In E. coli the plasmids pUC18/pUC19 (Pharmacia Biotech) were used, and in Strepto¬ myces strains the plasmid pIJ486 was used (Ward et al., 1987; obtained from Prof. Hopwood, John Innes Centre, UK). Nutrient media and solutions used TRYPTONE-SOYA BROTH (TSB) Per litre: Oxoid Tryptoπe Soya Broth powder 30 g. YEME (Hopwood et al., 1985., p. 239) Per litre: Yeast extract (Difco) 3 g, Bacto-peptone (Difco) 5 g, malt extract (Oxoid) 3 g, glucose 10 g and saccharose 340 g. After autoclaving 2 ml of sterile 2.5M MgCl 2 solution and 25 ml of 20% glycine are added. SGYEME As YEME, but the amount of saccharose was 110 g per litre. To prepare protoplasts the amount of 20% glycine varies from 12 ml to 50 ml per litre depending on the strain used. YM-agar Bacto Yeast malt extract agar, ISP-medium 2, Difco; 38 g litre. ISP4 Bacto ISP-medium 4, Difco; 37 g/litre. R2YE Hopwood et al., (1985 p. 236) LB Sambrook et al., (1989, 3:AJ) El Per litre: Glucose 20 g, starch 20 g, Farmamedia 5 g, yeast extract 2.5 g, K 2 HPO 4 » 3H 2 O 1.3 g, MgSO 4 » 7H 2 O 1 g, NaCl 3 g, CaCO 3 3 g. Tap water is added to 1 litre and pH is adjusted to 7.4. TE Tris-HCl-buffer, pH 8: 10 mM, EDTA, pH 8: 1 mM 20*SSC Per litre: NaCl 175.3 g, Na-citrate 88.2 g. pH is adjusted to 7 with NaOH. DENHARDT SOLUTION (Sambrook et al., 1989, 3:BJ) A 50* basic solution is prepared, which contains Ficoll 5 g, poly vinyl pyrrolidone 5 g, BSA (bovine serum albumin) 5 g. Distilled water is added to 500 ml and sterilized by filtrating. Example 1. Cloning and characterization of the genes included in the anthracycline biosynthesis of Streptomyces nogalater 1J Preparing of gene bank and cloning of anthracycline genes from S. nogalater. Isolation of the total DNA from Streptomyces nogalater S. nogalater (ATCC 27451) mycelia were cultivated for about 3 days in 50 ml of TSB medium, wherein 0.5% glycine had been added at 28 °C vigorously shaking. The mycelia were pelleted and the supernatant was discarded. The pellet was suspended into 10 ml of lysis buffer (15 % saccharose, 25 mM Tris, pH 8.0, 25 mM EDTA and 5 mg/ml of lysozyme) and incubated for 15 min at 37 °C. 1 mg of proteinase K and 1 ml of 10% SDS were added while stirring. The mixture was incubated at once for 15 min at 70 °C. The lysed pellet was subsequently cooled in ice, 1 ml of 3 M Na- acetate (pH 6.0) was added and kept for a few minutes on ice bath. 5 ml of phenol balanced with 0.1 M Tris was added and stirred by turning the tube around. The phases were sentrifuged apart and the water phase was further extracted with 5 ml of chloroform. DNA was subsequently precipitated by adding 10 ml of isopropanol. DNA was spinned cautiously around a Pasteur pipette being closed by flaming, washed by dipping into 70% ethanol and DNA was loosened onto the wall of the tube. DNA was dissolved in 5 ml of TE-buffer and treated with RNase (25 μl of 10 mg ml DNase free RNase) for about 30 min at 37 °C. The phenol and chloroform extractions were repeated. DNA was subsequently reprecipitated with isopropanol and washed as above. Finally DNA was dissolved in 1 ml of TE-buffer and it was used for subsequent steps. Southern hybridization The acti probe was the 0.8 kb .Bg/II-fragment obtained from the plasmid pIJ2345 and the acm probe the 3 kb 2fømHI-fragment obtained from the plasmid pACM5 (Niemi et al., 1994). The plasmids were isolated at mini-scale (Magic Minipreps reagent series of Promega) and the probe fragments were isolated by preparative agarose gel electrophoresis after digesting them first with Bglll and with Ba i, respectively. The probes were then labeled with 50 μCi of [α 32 -P]CTP by nick-translation (Nick translation labeling reagent series of Boehringer Mannheim). The total DNA preparations isolated as described above were digested with EcoRI enzyme and fractionated with agarose gel electrophoresis. The fractionated DNA was transferred from the gel to Hybond N membrane (Amersham) using the Nacugene apparatus (LKB 2016, Pharmacia LKB Biotechnology) according to the instructions of use. DΝA was fastened into the membrane by incubating for 3 min in UV light. The membranes were hybridized in 10 ml of hybridization solution (1% SDS, 1M ΝaCl, 5* Denhardt's solution, 100 μg/ml denatured carrier DΝA (DΝA from calf thymus, Boehringer Mannheim) at 65 °C in a hybridization oven (HB-1D Hybridiser, Techne) for about 6 h, whereafter at least 100 ng of labeled probe-DΝA was added into the hybridization tube and the inkubation was continued for further about 12 h. After this the membranes were washed at 65 °C for 2*30 min in a wash solution (2*SSC, 1% SDS or 0.2*SSC, 0.1% SDS). Autoradiography was effected by superimposing the membrane coated with a plastic film and the autoradiography film. Exposure lasted about 1 to 3 days. Preparing of the gene bank from S. nogalater DNA 40 μg of DNA was incubated in the digestion buffer (10*A, Boehringer Mannheim) in the presence of 2.4 units of Sαu3A (Boehringer Mannheim) for 5 min at 37 °C and the reaction was stopped by adding phenol. After phenol treatment DNA was purified with ethanol precipitation. DNA-fragments so obtained were run at preparative agarose gel electrophoresis (0.3 % LGT, low gelling temperature). DNA, which was 20 kb or bigger, was taken from the gel by cutting and purified by phenolization from the agarose. A commercial phage vector, λ EMBL 4, BamΗl fragments (Amersham Inter- national pic, Amersham UK) were treated with alkaline phosphatase (CIAP, calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase, Promega) according to the instructions of the manufacturer. The insert DNA (Sαu3A fraction) and vector so obtained were ligated by incubating for 2 h at room temperature and for 2 h at 14 °C in the presence of T4- DNA ligase (Promega) according to the recommendation of the manufacturer. The ligation mixture was packed to λ-particles using the Packagene reagent series (Promega Biotech) according to the manufacturer's instructions. Escherichia coli strain GM2163 was used as the host. The cells were prepared for infection according to the packing instructions and cells infected with the packing mixture were spread onto plates according to Promega's instructions. Isolation and mapping of hybridizing clones Phage DNA from plates with about 4000 plaques/plate was transferred to a membrane (Colony/Plaque Screen, New England Nuclear) according to the manufacturer's instructions. The membranes were hybridized as described above. Plaques which gave a signal in autoradiography, were picked up and the phages were eluted from them by incubating a plaque in 0.5 ml of SM-buffer for 2 hours. Because the plaque plates were dense, the plaques were purified by infecting them into the host strain LE392 (Promega) and hybridizing as above. From the purified clones phage DNA was prepared in 20 ml scale by infecting the LE392 cells according to Promega's packing instructions. The DNA so obtained was digested with various restriction endonucleases to map the clones (Sambrook et al., 1989) and by hybridizing with different probes. The restriction map so obtained is given in Fig. 2. Transfer of the DNA fragments to S. lividans and detection of new compounds The fragment shown in the restriction map (Fig. 2) was transferred into S. lividans as EcσRI-fragments (pSYl and pSY6) or as a -Sg/II-fragment (pSY15). λ-clones were digested with EcoRI or Bglll -restriction enzyme and ligated to a plasmid made linear with the same enzyme and was transformed by electroporation into E. coli or by protoplast transformation into S. lividans. Most of the inserts were first cloned into the plasmid pUC19 amplifying in E. coli, whereby as a host E. coli strain XLl-Blue was used. pSY15 was cloned directly into the S. lividans strain TK24. E. coli was used because by that way smaller amounts of phage-DNA could be used. The transformati¬ on efficacy of E. coli was 2*10 8 transformants/μg DNA, when E. coli Pulser Apparatus-electroporation device (Bio-Rad) was used with the following settings (200 Ohm, 25 μF, 1.4 kV). For electroporation the cells were treated as described in Dower, W.J. et al. (1988), and 0.1 cm cuvettes of Bio-Rad were used in transformation, the cell volume was 20 μl. S. lividans strain TK24 was used as an intermediate host as the expression was believed to be successful only in S. galilaeus strains. S. galilaeus is not at all transformable with DNA propagated in E. coli. Only the plasmid pSY15 caused modification in TK24 strain, which was noticed as brown colour on the ISP4 plate, when TK24 is normally rather colourless or blue. Only the TK24 strain carrying the plasmid pSY15 caused formation of coloured products in the Εl-medium well suited for the production of anthracyclines. On the basis of thin layer chromatography the products of the recombinant strain TK24/pSY15 seemed to be alike to but not identical with those produced by the mutant H036 (Ylihonko et al., 1994) producing the methyl ester of aklanone acid. With the eluent toluene:ethyl acetate:methanol:formic acid (50:50:15:3) the following Revalues were obtained for these products: TK24/pSY15: 0.66; 0.60; 0.50 H036: 0.67; 0.62; 0.51. These characteristics were confirmed to come from the pSY15 plasmid by retransfor- ming the plasmid to S. lividans TK24 strain. The transformants so obtained were also able to produce anthracycline precursors. When the recombinant strain was cultivated in El medium without selection pressure of the plasmid strain caused by thiostrepton, the production of new compounds decreased. 1.2 Localizing the PKS-genes Sequencing of the hybridizing fragment From the EcoRI-digest a 2 kb acti hybridizing fragment was obtained and it was sequenced. About 2 kb of DNA to the right according to the map (Fig. 2) was additionally sequenced. For sequencing 31 clones were prepared from restriction enzyme digestion sites to the vectors pUC18 and pUC19, being linearized with corresponding enzymes. To isolate plasmids for the sequencing reactions Magic Wizard™ Minipreps DNA Purification System kit of Promega was used. E. coli XLl-Blue cells were cultivated overnight in 3 ml of LB-medium which contained 50 μg/ml of ampicillin, and the plasmids were isolated according to the manufacturer's instructions. DNA-sequencing was performed by using dideoxy chain termination method. For the sequencing reactions Deaza G/A "Sequencing™ Mixes (Pharmacia) and TaqTrack ® Sequencing Systems, Deaza (Promega) sequencing reagent series were used. Denaturation was always performed according to the instructions in the Pharmacia kit. (Method C). When using the Pharmacia kit the primers were ligated according to the Method C given in the instructions (Standard Annealing of Primer to Double-Stranded Template). When using the Promega kit the item "Sequencing Protocol Using Direct Incorporation" of the manufacturer's instructions was followed. Deviating from the primer ligation temperature (37 °C) recommended by the manufacturer the temperature of 45 °C was used to avoid the secondary structures caused by the high GC-content. The temperature was kept thereafter at 45 °C until the end of the reaction. As a radioactive label [α 35 S]dATP (NEN Products Boston, MA) was used. Most of the PKS-domain was sequenced with a universal primer (5'-d(GTTTTCCCAGTCAC- GAQ-3') and with a reverse primer (5'-d(CAGGAAACAGCTATGAC)-3' (pUC/M13 17'mer Primers, Promega). When sequencing the longest fragments (500-600 bp) of the domain, and in order to define the sequences of such restriction sites which could not be "passed", six specific primers were used. The primers were prepared at the Department of Bioorganic Chemistry in the University of Turku. The sequencing gels were run by the Macrophor-system of Pharmacia, using a 4% thickness gradient gel. Running conditions: current 20 mA, voltage 2500 V. Sequence analysis From the PKS domain the DNA fragment with about 4134 bases (as given in the sequence listing) was sequenced, the analysis of which was performed by GCG- software (Genetics Computer Group, GCG Package, Wisconsin USA). With the subprogram CODONPREFERENCE the open reading frames were sought from the sequence. The reading frames obtained were translated to the amino acid sequence and with the TFASTA-subprogram homologies to known sequences were sought. According to the CODONPREFERENCE program the 4134 base DNA fragment as sequenced had altogether three open reading frames (ORF1, ORF2, ORF3) (ORF 1 is the fragment 359-1651 in SEQ ID NO:l of the sequence listing, ORF2 is the fragment 1648-2877 in the SEQ ID NO:4, and ORF3 is the fragment 2937-3197 in the SEQ ID NO:l). In the beginning of each open reading frame a possible ribosome binding site was found (RBS). The functions of the genes were concluded by comparing the amino acid sequences translated from their base sequences to known sequences. So the following similarities with the open reading frames of actinorhodin and tetracenomycin PKS domains were obtained: ORF1 (80%, 81%), ORF2 (74%, 77%), ORF3 (62%, 62%), and on the basis of this we present the following functions to said genes: ORF1 is ketoacylsynthase; ORF2 is the factor which effects on the chain length; ORF3 is an acyl carrier protein. These three open reading frames are needed for a functional polyketide synthase. Upstream of the PKS domain about 6 kb DNA fragment was sequenced (kb = 1000 bases). In this domain the following gene activities have been recognized on the basis of the sequence: (Fig. 2): regulatory genes, mono-oxygenase, methyl transferase and ketoreductase. Example 2. Transfer of the genes into the strain S. galilaeus ATCC 31615 and mutants thereof Plasmid pSY15 was isolated from S. lividans strain TK24 and transformed into S. galilaeus mutant H039 and the DNA isolated therefrom further into other S. galilaeus mutants. The method used in the transformation of the S. galilaeus strain being modified from the transformation method used in the transformation of S. lividans has been described earlier (Ylihonko, K., Pro gradu-thesis, University of Turku, 1986). For preparing protoplasts the cells were grown in SGYEME, to which 0.8% saccharose had been added. The plasmids were transformed successfully first to the mutant H039, whereby with 2 μg of plasmid-DNA about 10 transformants were ob¬ tained. Because of a strong restriction barrier S. galilaeus is weakly transformable with foreign DNA but the transformation efficacy increases manyfold if the plasmid has been isolated from a S. galilaeus strain. H039-transformants were first cultivated for about 5 days on an ISP4 plate, whereto thiostreptone had been added. The mycelium was inoculated in 50 ml of TSB nutrient broth (5 μg/ml of thiostreptone added) and grown in a shaker for 5 days. The plasmid was isolated as described above and transformed into other mutants. Usually 200 to 500 ng of plasmid was used per one transformation, whereby 10 to 100 transformants were obtained. After regeneration the transformed mutant strains were spread onto ISP4 plates, wherefrom the mycelium was further transferred to El nutrient medium. To retain the plasmid thiosfrepton was added to all nutrient media. El mycelium was incubated in a shaker (330 rpm, 30 °C) and production was followed by taking after 3 days a 0.5 ml sample of the mycelium daily for 3 to 5 days. The sample was buffered to pH 7 with phosphate buffer and extracted with methanol-toluene mixture (1:1). In addition, part of the samples were acidified with 1M HC1 solution and extracted into toluene- methanol. In El -cultivations both mutants and the S. galilaeus wild strain were used as controls. By comparing the products on TLC the effects of the plasmid on the production were seen. The S. galilaeus mutants used in transformations are listed above. Plasmid pSY15 complemented, i.e. restored the producing ability of anthracyclines or precursors thereof in the following mutants: H028, H061 and JH003. It did not affect the production profile of the mutants H036 and H039 to any appreciable extent. JH003, which does not produce coloured compounds in the conditions used, has been mutated from the strain H054 and the transformant JH003/pSY15 was compared to the strain H054. H028 is also a non-producing mutant, which was obtained by mutating the wild strain S. galilaeus ATCC 31615. So the wild strain was used as the control of the transformant H028/pSY15. Using the eluent toluenexthyl acetate:methanol:formic acid (50:50:15:3) the following R f -values were obtained for the transformants and the host strains used as controls. H028/pSY15: (0.69); L; 0.58; QM JH003/pSY15: 0.59; 0.50; 0.46; 035. H061/pSY15: (0.69); 0.61; 0.58; QM; QM. S. galilaeus ATCC 31615: 0.23; 0.14; 0.11 H054: 0.65; 0.60; 0.53; 0.48. H061: 0.50 (acid). The product isolated in small scale was hydrolyzed by heating in 1M hydrochloric acid at 80 °C for 0.5 h. After hydrolysis the following Revalues were obtained for the aglycons or precursors thereof: H028/pSY15: 0.61 JH003/pSY15: 0.61 H061/pSY15: 0.61. Because all these mutants used have originally been produced from a S. galilaeus wild strain, aklavinone was used as comparison, being the aglycone of aclacinomycins produced by S. galilaeus. In the eluent used the R f -value 0.69 was obtained for aklavinone. In the products of transformants small amounts of aklavinone were also detected. Example 3. Production of anthracycline precursors 3J Production of TK24/pSY15 products Ten 250 ml erlenmeyer-flasks each containing 60 ml of El -medium were inoculated with 1 ml aliquots of the strain TK24/pSY15. The flasks were incubated in a shaker at 330 rpm at the temperature of 30 °C for about 3 days. From the finished mycelia production was confirmed by extracting 0.5 ml samples with a mixture of methanol and toluene (1:1). The products were compared to the standard by thin layer chromatography. The flasks were emptied into two 400 ml centrifuge tubes and centrifuged for 10 min at 3000 rpm. The supernatant was recovered. The precipitate was suspended by adding to each tube 50 ml of methanol. The tubes were recentrifuged for 10 min at 3000 rpm. The methanol solution was added into the supernatant. The precipitate was discarded. The solution was extracted with 2 * 100 ml of chloroform, whereby a strongly orange-yellow chloroform solution was obtained. The water phase was discarded. Chloroform was evaporated on a water bath in a rotary evaporator. The orange- yellow, dry product was dissolved in 2 ml of chloroform. The chloroform solutions were pipetted into a chromatography column of glass, equipped with a glass sinter, having a diameter of 2 cm and containing about 5 cm of silica suspended in chloroform (Kieselgel 60, Merck). The column was eluted with 2.5 ml aliquots of chloroform. Each fraction was collected into a separate test tube. Samples of each fraction were dropped on a thin layer and compared to the standards. Fractions containing individual compounds were pooled and evaporated into dryness. NMR-spectra of pure compounds were determined and the compounds were identified by comparing the spectra with analogical compounds. In Fig. 4 the H-NMR-spectrum of Compound I is given. 3.2 Production of an aglycone in the strain H028/pSY15 Ten 250 ml erlenmeyer-flasks each containing 60 ml of El -medium were inoculated with 1 ml aliquots of the strain H028/pSY15. The flasks were incubated in a shaker at 330 ηpm at the temperature of 30 °C for about 4 days. From the finished mycelia production was confirmed by extracting 0.5 ml samples with a mixture of methanol and toluene (1:1). The products were compared to the standards by thin layer chroma¬ tography. The flasks were emptied into two 400 ml centrifuge tubes and centrifuged for 10 min at 3000 rpm. The supernatant was recovered. The precipitate was suspended by adding to each tube 50 ml of methanol. The tubes were recentrifuged for 10 min at 3000 rpm. The methanol solution was added into the supernatant. The precipitate was discarded. The solution was extracted with 2 * 100 ml of chloroform, whereby a strongly yellow chloroform solution was obtained. The water phase was discarded. Chloroform was evaporated on a water bath in a rotary evaporator. The yellow, dry product was dissolved in 2 ml of chloroform. The chloroform solutions were pipetted into a chromatography column of glass, equipped with a glass sinter, having a diameter of 2 cm and containing about 5 cm of silica suspended in chloroform (Kieselgel 60, Merck). The column was eluted with 2.5 ml aliquots of chloroform. Each fraction was collected into a separate test tube. Samples of each fraction were dropped on a thin layer and compared to the standards. Fractions containing individual compounds were pooled and evaporated into dryness. NMR-spectra of pure compounds were determined and the compounds were identified by comparing the spectra with analogical compounds. In Fig. 5 the H-NMR-spectrum of auramycinone (Compound II) is given. Example 4. Biotransformation of hybrid products 4.1 Biotransformation of auramycinone in strain JH003 A 250 ml erlenmeyer-flask containing 60 ml of El-medium was inoculated with 1 ml of strain JH003. The flask was incubated in a shaker at 330 rpm at the temperature of 30 °C for about 3 days. After two day's cultivation about 2 mg of auramycinone was added into the flask. At 24 hours from this the production was confirmed by extracting a 0.5 ml sample with the mixture of methanol and toluene (1:1). The products were compared to the standard by thin layer chromatography. The flask was emptied into two 60 ml centrifuge tube and centrifuged for 10 min at 3000 rpm. The supernatant was recovered. The precipitate was suspended by adding to each tube 10 ml of methanol. The tubes were recentrifuged for 10 min at 3000 rpm. The methanol solution was added to the supernatant. The precipitate was discarded. The pooled solution was extracted with 2 * 20 ml of chloroform, whereby a strongly yellow chloroform solution was obtained. The water phase was discarded. Chloroform was evaporated on a water bath in a rotary evaporator. The yellow, dry product was dissolved in chloroform. On the basis of TLC the product was found to correspond to the products of the strain JH003/pSY15 (cf. Example 5.2). Example 5. Production of hybrid anthracyclines 5J Production of auramycinone-rhodosamine-deoxyfucose in strain H028/pSY15 Ten 250 ml erlenmeyer-flasks each containing 60 ml of El -medium were inoculated with 1 ml aliquots of the strain H028/pSY15. The flasks were incubated in a shaker at 330 rpm at the temperature of 30 °C for about 4 days. From the finished mycelia production was confirmed by extracting 0.5 ml samples with a mixture of methanol and toluene (1:1). The products were compared to the standard by thin layer chroma¬ tography. The flasks were emptied into two 400 ml centrifuge tubes and centrifuged for 10 min at 3000 rpm. The supernatant was recovered. The precipitate was suspended by adding to each tube 50 ml of methanol. The tubes were recentrifuged for 10 min at 3000 rpm. The methanol solution was added into the supernatant. The precipitate was discarded. The pooled solution was extracted with 2 * 100 ml of chloroform, whereby a strongly yellow chloroform solution was obtained. The water phase was discarded. Chloroform was evaporated on a water bath in a rotary evaporator. The yellow, dry product was dissolved in 2 ml of chloroform. The chloroform solutions were pipetted into a chromatography column of glass, equipped with a glass sinter, having a diameter of 2 cm and containing about 5 cm of silica suspended in chloroform (Kieselgel 60, Merck). The column was eluted with 2.5 ml aliquots of chloroform. Each fraction was collected into a separate test tube. Samples of each fraction were dropped on a thin layer and compared to the standards. Fractions containing individual compounds were pooled. NMR-spectra of pure compounds were determined and the compounds were identified by comparing the spectra with analogical compounds. In Fig. 6 the H-NMR-spectrum of auramycinone-rhodosamine-deoxyfucose (Compound III) is given. 5.2 Production of auramycinone- rhodinose-deoxy fticose in strain JH003/pSY15 Ten 250 ml erlenmeyer-flasks each containing 60 ml of El -medium were inoculated with 1 ml aliquots of the strain JH003/pSY15. The flasks were incubated in a shaker at 330 rpm at the temperature of 30 °C for about 4 days. From the finished mycelia production was confirmed by extracting 0.5 ml samples with a mixture of methanol and toluene (1:1). The products were compared to the standard by thin layer chroma¬ tography. The flasks were emptied into two 400 ml centrifuge tubes and centrifuged for 10 min at 3000 rpm. The supernatant was recovered. The precipitate was suspended by adding to each tube 50 ml of methanol. The tubes were recentrifuged for 10 min at 3000 rpm. The methanol solution was added into the supernatant. The precipitate was discarded. The pooled solution was extracted with 2 * 100 ml of chloroform, whereby a strongly yellow chloroform solution was obtained. The water phase was discarded. Chloroform was evaporated on a water bath in a rotary evaporator. The yellow, dry product was dissolved in 2 ml of chloroform. The chloroform solutions were pipetted into a chromatography column of glass, equipped with a glass sinter, having a diameter of 2 cm and containing about 5 cm of silica suspended in chloroform (Kieselgel 60, Merck). The column was eluted with 2.5 ml aliquots of chloroform :methanol 100:10. Each fraction was collected into a separate test tube. Samples of each fraction were dropped on a thin layer and compared to a standard. Fractions containing individual compounds were pooled and evaporated into dryness. NMR-spectra of pure compounds were determined and the compounds were identified by comparing the spectra with analogical compounds. In Fig. 7 the H-NMR-spectrum of auramycinone-rhodinose-deoxyfucose is given. Example 6. Characterization of the products 61 HPLC-runs The retention times of the compounds were determined at RP-18-column, with an eluent acetonitrile:methanol:potassium dihydrogen phosphate buffer (8.00 g 1, pH 3.0) 5:2:3. The retention times of the compounds are: I: 4.63, II: 3.52, HI: 4.09 and IN: 7.26. The structures of the compounds I - IN are given in the Scheme I. 6.2 ΝMR-spectra of the compounds H-ΝMR-spectra of some of the TK24/pSY15, H028/pSY15 and JH003/pSY15 products were determined by Brϋker 400 MHz ΝMR spectrometer in deuterium - chloroform. The spectra given by the compounds were compared to the spectra of known compounds, e.g. aclarubicin. The spectra obtained are given in Figs. 4 to 7. In all of the compounds the hydrogens in 1, 2 and 3-positions bound to each other and with same transitions are found. The singlet corresponding to the hydrogen in 11- position was found in all compounds with the same transition. Additionally, the peaks given by the two aromatic hydroxyls can be seen. On the basis of the peaks of these six hydrogens the aromatic chromophore moieties are similar, and correspond e.g. the chromophore of aklavinone. In all of the compounds a singlet of the size of three hydrogens is found at about 3.7 ppm corresponding to the methyl of methyl ester. Another singlet is found in all compounds at about 3.8 ppm, which corresponds to the 10-position hydrogen. The integral of this is of the size of one hydrogen in auramycinone and its glycosides and of the size of two hydrogens in Compound I. According to this Compound I suits to be a compound in which the fourth ring has not been closed. The region 4.7 to 6 ppm has in anthracyclines and in compounds related thereto hydrogens at 7-position and 1-position of the sugars. Auramycinone has in this region one peak, Compounds III and IV have three peaks, but in Compound I there are no peaks in this region. According to this auramycinone has no sugars and Compounds III and -TV have two sugars, whereas Compound I has no hydrogens in this region which suits with the keto-form at position 7. Auramycinone and its glycosides have a three hydrogen singlet between 1.39 and 1.47 ppm. This suits to be the methyl group of position 13, which is not bound to other hydrogens. This item distinguishes these compounds from aklavinone and its glycosides, wherein the side chain is ethyl. The 8-position CH 2 -hydrogens of auramycinone and its glycosides give one doublet at 2.2 ppm and a double doublet at 2.6 ppm. In addition, in the spectra of Compounds III and IN peaks corresponding to their sugars are found. The H-ΝMR results match well with the structures given in the Figures. Deposited microorganisms The following microorganism was deposited in Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroor- ganismeπ und Zellkulturen (DSM), Mascheroder Weg 1 b, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany Microorganism Deposition number Deposition date Streptomyces lividans TK24/pSY15 DSM 9436 15 September 1994 Scheme I Structural formulas of the compounds obtained References Arrowsmith, TJ., Malpartida, F., Sherman, D.H., Birch, A., Hopwood, DA. and Robinson, J A. 1992. Characterization of αctl-homologous DNA encoding polyketide synthase genes from monensin producer Streptomyces cinnamonensis. Mol. Gen. Genet. 234: 254-264 Bhuyan, B.K. and Dietz, A. 1965. Fermentation, taxonomic, and biological studies of nogalamycin. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 1965:836-844. Bibb, MJ., Sherman, D.H., Omura, S. and Hopwood, DA. 1994 Cloning, sequencing and deduced functions of a cluster of Streptomyces genes probably encoding biosynthesis of the polyketide antibiotic frenolicin. Gene Bibb, MJ. Biro, S., Motamedi, H., Collins, J.F. and Hutchinson, C.R. 1989. Analysis of the nucleotide sequence of the Streptomyces glaucescens tcml genes provides key information about the enzymology of polyketide antibiotic biosynthesis. EMBO J. 8: 2727-2736. Dower W J., Miller, J.F. and Ragsdale, C.W. 1988. High efficiency transformation of E. coli by high voltage electroporation. Nucleic Acids Research 16:6127-6145. Fernandez-Moreno, MA., Martinez, E., Boto, L., Hopwood, DA. and Malpartida, F. 1992. Nucleotide sequence and deduced functions of a set of cotranscribed genes of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) including the polyketide synthase for the antibiotic actinorhodin. J.Biol.Chem. 267: 19278-19290 Floss, H.G. (1987) Hybrid antibiotics - the contribution of the new gene com¬ binations. Trends in Biotech. 5:111-115. Fujivara, A. and Hoshino, T. 1986. Anthracycline antibiotics. CRC critical reviews in biotechnology. 3:2:133-157. Grafe, U., Dornberger, K., Wagner, C and Eckardt, K. 1989. Advances in bioconversion of anthracycline antibiotics. Biotech. Adv. 7:215-239. Hallam, S.E., Malpartida, F. and Hopwood, DA. 1988. Nucleotide sequence, transcription and deduced function of a gene involved in polyketide antibiotic synthesis in Streptomyces coelicolor. Gene 74:305-320. Hopwood, DA., M J. Bibb, K.F. Chater, T. Kieser, C J. Bruton, H.M. Kieser, D J. Lydiate, C.P. Smith, J.M. Ward, and H. Schrempf. 1985. Genetic manipulations of Streptomyces: a laboratory manual. The John Innes Foundation, Norwich, United Kingdom. Katz, L., and Donadio, S. 1993. Polyketide synthesis: prospects for hybrid antibiotics. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 47:875-912. Kim, E-S., Bibb, MJ., Butler, MJ., Hopwood, DA. and Sherman, D.H. 1994. Nucleotide sequence of the oxytetracycline (otc) polyketide synthase genes from Streptomyces rimosus. Gene 141:141-142. Malpartida, F. and Hopwood, DA. 1984. Molecular cloning of the whole biosynthetic pathway of a Streptomyces antibiotic and its expression in a heterologous host. Nature 309:462-464. Malpartida, F., S.E. Hallam, H.M. Kieser, H. Motamedi, C.R. Hutchinson, MJ. Butler, DA. Sugden, M. Warren, CMcKillop, C.R. Bailey, G.O. Humphreys, and DA. Hopwood. 1987. Homology between Streptomyces genes coding for synthesis of different polyketides used to clone antibiotic synthesis genes. Nature (London) 325:818-821. McDaniel, R. , S. Ebert-Khosla, DA. Hopwood, and C. Khosla. 1993. Engineered biosynthesis of novel polyketides. Science 262:1546-1550. Niemi, J., K. Ylihonko, J. Hakala, R. Parssinen, A. Kopio, and P. Mantsala. 1994. Hybrid anthracycline antibiotics: production of new anthracyclines by cloned genes from Streptomyces purpurascens in Streptomyces galilaeus. Microbiol. 140:1351-1358. Sambrook, J., E.F. Fritsch, and T.Maniatis. 1989. Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual, 2nd ed. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. Shen, B. and Hutchinson, R. 1993. Enzymatic synthesis of a bacterial polyketide from acetyl and malonyl Coenzyme A. Science 262:1535-1540. Sherman, D.H., Malpartida, F., Bibb, MJ., Kieser, H.M. and Hopwood, DA. 1989. Structure and deduced function of the granaticin-producing polyketide synthase gene cluster of Streptomyces violaceoruber Tύ22. EMBO J. 8: 2717-2725. Ward, J.M, G.R. Janssen, T. Kieser, MJ. Bibb, MJ. Buttner and MJ. Bibb. 1986. Construction and charaterization of a series of multi-copy promoter-probe plasmid vectors for Streptomyces using the aminoglycoside phosphotransferase from Tn5 as indicator. Mol. Gen. Genet. 203:468-478. Ylihonko, K., J. Hakala, J. Niemi, J. Lundell and P. Mantsala. 1994. Isolation and characterization of aclacinomycin A-nonproducing Streptomyces galilaeus (ATCC 31615) mutants. Microbiol. 140:1359-1365. Yu, T.-W., Bibb, M J., Revill, W.P. and Hopwood, DA. 1994. Cloning, sequencing and analysis of the griseusin polyketide synthase gene cluster from Streptomyces griseus. J. Bacteriol. 176:2627-2634. SEQUENCE LISTING (1) GENERAL INFORMATION: (i) APPLICANT: (A) NAME: Galilaeus Oy (B) STREET: Elinantie 2 A 9 (C) CITY: Turku (E) COUNTRY: Suomi (F) POSTAL CODE (ZIP): FIN-20510 (ii) TITLE OF INVENTION: Process for producing anthracyclines and intermediates thereof (iii) NUMBER OF SEQUENCES: 5 (iv) COMPUTER READABLE FORM: (A) MEDIUM TYPE: Floppy disk (B) COMPUTER: IBM PC compatible (C) OPERATING SYSTEM: PC-DOS/MS-DOS (D) SOFTWARE: Patentln Release #1.0, Version #1.25 (EPO) (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 1: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 3252 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic) (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: NO (iii) ANTI-SENSE: NO (vi) ORIGINAL SOURCE: (B) STRAIN: Streptomyces nogalater ATCC 27451 (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: CDS (B) LOCATION: 359..1651 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: /note= "ORF1" (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: CDS (B) LOCATION: 2937..3197 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: /note= "ORF3 H (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: misc_feature (B) LOCATION: 1648..1651 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: /note= "overlapping sequence in ORF1 and ORF2" (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 1: GAATTCGGCC GTACCCCGAC GGCCGATTCC TTACCCTTCC GGAGCGGCTT GCGGATCGCA 60 GGACGAAGTC CTCCCTCTCC CCCCATCGGG CGTCCGCTCT TTGTGACCGG TTCACGAGTC 120 GGGTTCCAGC GCTCCTCGAC TCAGGATCGA CCCCTTCCGC GGTAGCCGCC CCGCAGGAAC 180 31 CGCAAACCTT CCGCGCCGGT CCCGCCGGGC TTCGCCGCAC CCGTCCATCC GTCATTGAGC 240 TGATTTCGAG ACAGGACGCG CACTGTCACC ACGAGCCCTG TGCGGTTGAA GTCATCACCT 300 GTCCGCGCAC AGGAACTTCA AGACGATCAA AGCCCCTAGT GAAGGGCATC TTCGACGA 358 ATG AAG GAA TCC ATC AAC CGT CGC GTG GTC ATC ACC GGA ATA GGG ATC 406 Met Lys Glu Ser lie Asn Arg Arg Val Val lie Thr Gly lie Gly lie 1 5 10 15 GTC GCG CCC GAT GCC ACC GGG GTG AAA CCG TTC TGG GAT CTG CTG ACG 454 Val Ala Pro Asp Ala Thr Gly Val Lys Pro Phe Trp Asp Leu Leu Thr 20 25 30 GCC GGT CGC ACC GCG ACC CGG ACC ATC ACC GCC TTC GAT CCC TCT CCG 502 Ala Gly Arg Thr Ala Thr Arg Thr lie Thr Ala Phe Asp Pro Ser Pro 35 40 45 TTC CGT TCC CGC ATC GCC GCG GAA TGC GAT TTC GAC CCG CTT GCC GAA 550 Phe Arg Ser Arg lie Ala Ala Glu Cys Asp Phe Asp Pro Leu Ala Glu 50 55 60 GGG CTG ACC CCC CAG CAG ATC CGG CGT ATG GAC CGG GCC ACG CAG TTC 598 Gly Leu Thr Pro Gin Gin lie Arg Arg Met Asp Arg Ala Thr Gin Phe 65 70 75 80 GCG GTC GTC AGC GCC CGG GAA AGC CTG GAG GAC AGC GGA CTC GAC CTC 646 Ala Val Val Ser Ala Arg Glu Ser Leu Glu Asp Ser Gly Leu Asp Leu 85 90 95 GGC GCC CTG GAC GCC TCC CGC ACC GGC GTG GTC GTC GGC AGC GCG GTC 694 Gly Ala Leu Asp Ala Ser Arg Thr Gly Val Val Val Gly Ser Ala Val 100 105 110 GGC TGC ACC ACG AGC CTG GAA GAG GAG TAC GCG GTC GTC AGC GAC AGC 742 Gly Cys Thr Thr Ser Leu Glu Glu Glu Tyr Ala Val Val Ser Asp Ser 115 120 125 GGC CGG AAC TGG CTG GTC GAC GAC GGC TAC GCC GTA CCG CAC CTA TTC 790 Gly Arg Asn Trp Leu Val Asp Asp Gly Tyr Ala Val Pro His Leu Phe 130 135 140 GAC TAC TTC GTG CCC AGC TCC ATC GCC GCC GAG GTG GCA CAC GAC CGC 838 Asp Tyr Phe Val Pro Ser Ser lie Ala Ala Glu Val Ala His Asp Arg 145 150 155 160 ATC GGC GCG GAG GGC CCC GTC AGC CTC GTG TCG ACC GGG TGC ACC TCG 886 lie Gly Ala Glu Gly Pro Val Ser Leu Val Ser Thr Gly Cys Thr Ser 165 170 175 GGC CTG GAC GCC GTG GGC CGC GCG GCC GAC CTG ATC GCC GAG GGA GCG 934 Gly Leu Asp Ala Val Gly Arg Ala Ala Asp Leu lie Ala Glu Gly Ala 180 185 190 GCG GAT GTG ATG CTG GCC GGT GCG ACC GAG GCG CCC ATC TCC CCC ATC 982 Ala Asp Val Met Leu Ala Gly Ala Thr Glu Ala Pro lie Ser Pro lie 195 200 205 ACC GTG GCG TGC TTC GAT GCC ATC AAG GCG ACC ACC CCC CGC AAC GAC 1030 Thr Val Ala Cys Phe Asp Ala He Lys Ala Thr Thr Pro Arg Asn Asp 210 215 220 ACG CCC GCC GAG GCG TCC CGT CCG TTC GAC CGC ACC AGG AAC GGG TTC 1078 Thr Pro Ala Glu Ala Ser Arg Pro Phe Asp Arg Thr Arg Asn Gly Phe 225 230 235 240 GTA CTC GGC GAG GGC GCT GCC GTG TTC GTC CTG GAG GAG TTC GAA CAC 1126 Val Leu Gly Glu Gly Ala Ala Val Phe Val Leu Glu Glu Phe Glu His 245 250 255 GCG CGC CGC CGG GGC GCG CTC GTG TAC GCG GAG ATC GCC GGG TTC GCC 1174 Ala Arg Arg Arg Gly Ala Leu Val Tyr Ala Glu He Ala Gly Phe Ala 260 265 270 ACT CGC TGC AAC GCC TTC CAC ATG ACC GGT CTG CGC CCG GAC GGG CGG 1222 Thr Arg Cys Asn Ala Phe His Met Thr Gly Leu Arg Pro Asp Gly Arg 275 280 285 GAG ATG GCG GAG GCC ATC GGG GTG GCG CTC GCC CAG GCG GGC AAG GCG 1270 Glu Met Ala Glu Ala He Gly Val Ala Leu Ala Gin Ala Gly Lys Ala 290 295 300 CCG GCT GAC GTC GAC TAC GTC AAC GCC CAC GGT TCC GGC ACC CGG CAG 1318 Pro Ala Asp Val Asp Tyr Val Asn Ala His Gly Ser Gly Thr Arg Gin 305 310 315 320 AAT GAC CGT CAC GAG ACG GCG GCC TTC AAG CGC AGT CTC GGC GAC CAC 1366 Asn Asp Arg His Glu Thr Ala Ala Phe Lys Arg Ser Leu Gly Asp His 325 330 335 GCC TAC CGG GTC CCG GTC AGC AGC ATC AAA TCC ATG ATC GGG CAC TCG 1414 Ala Tyr Arg Val Pro Val Ser Ser He Lys Ser Met He Gly His Ser 340 345 350 CTG GGC GCG ATC GGC TCC CTG GAG ATC GCC GCC TCC GTG CTG GCC ATC 1462 Leu Gly Ala He Gly Ser Leu Glu He Ala Ala Ser Val Leu Ala He 355 360 365 ACA CAC GAC GTG GTG CCG CCC ACC GCC AAT CTG CAC GAG CCG GAT CCC 1510 Thr His Asp Val Val Pro Pro Thr Ala Asn Leu His Glu Pro Asp Pro 370 375 380 GAG TGC GAT CTG GAC TAC GTG CCG CTG CGG GCG CGT GCG TGC CCG GTG 1558 Glu Cys Asp Leu Asp Tyr Val Pro Leu Arg Ala Arg Ala Cys Pro Val 385 390 395 400 GAC ACG GTG CTC ACG GTG GGC AGC GGG TTC GGC GGT TTC CAG AGC GCC 1606 Asp Thr Val Leu Thr Val Gly Ser Gly Phe Gly Gly Phe Gin Ser Ala 405 410 415 ATG GTG CTG TGC GGT CCG GGC TCG CGG GGA AGG TCG GCC GCG TGACGGCCGC 1658 Met Val Leu Cys Gly Pro Gly Ser Arg Gly Arg Ser Ala Ala 420 425 430 CGTGGTGGTG ACCGGTCTCG GCGTCGTCGC CCCCACCGGT CTCGGGGTGC GGGAGCACTG 1718 GTCGAGTACG GTCCGGGGGG CGTCGGCGAT CGGACCGGTC ACCCGGTTCG ACGCCGGCCG 1778 GTACCCCAGC AAACTGGCCG GAGAGGTGCC CGGTTTCGTC CCGGAGGACC ATCTGCCCAG 1838 CCGGCTGATG CCGCAGACGG ACCATATGAC GCGCCTGGCG CTCGTCGCGG CGGACTGGGC 1898 CTTCCAGGAC GCCGCCGTGG ACCCGTCGAA GCTGCCGGAG TACGGCGTCG GCGTGGTCAC 1958 CGCGAGTTCG GCGGGGGGGT TCGAATTCGG CCACCGCGAG CTGCAGAACC TGTGGAGCCT 2018 GGGCCCGCAG TACGTCAGCG CGTATCAGTC GTTCGCATGG TTCTATGCCG TGAACACCGG 2078 TCAGGTGTCC ATCCGGCACG GGCTGCGCGG CCCGGGCGGG GTGCTGGTGA CGGAACAGGC 2138 GGGCGGCCTG GACGCCCTTG GGCAGGCCCG GCGGCAGTTG CGGCGCGGAC TGCCGATGGT 2198 GGTCGCGGGA GCCGTTGACG GCTCGCCCTG CCCCTGGGGC TGGGTGGCGC AGCTCAGCTC 2258 GGGCGGCCTC AGCACGTCGG ACGACCCGCG CCGGGCCTAT CTGCCGTTCG ACGCCGCAGC 2318 CGGCGGACAC GTGCCGGGAG AGGGCGGCGC CCTGCTCGTC CTGGAGAGCG ACGAGTCGGC 2378 CCGGGCGCGC GGGGTGACGC GGTGGTACGG GCGCATCGAT GGGTACGCCG CCACATTCGA 2438 CCCCCCGCCC GGTTCGGGGC GCCCGCCGAA CCTGCTGCGG GCCGCGCAGG CGGCACTGGA 2498 CGACGCGGAG GTCGGACCCG AGGCGGTCGA CGTGGTGTTC GCGGACGCGT CCGGCACCCC 2558 GGACGAGGAC GCGGCGGAGG CCGACGCGGT GCGGCGCCTG TTCGGACCGT ACGGCGTTCC 2618 GGTGACGGCG CCGAAGACCA TGACCGGCCG CCTCAGCGCG GGCGGCGCGG CCCTCGACGT 2678 GGCGACGGCG CTGCTGGCGC TGCGCGAGGG CGTCGTCCCG CCGACGGTCA ACGTCTCCCG 2738 GCCGCGGCCG GAGTACGAGC TGGACCTGGT GCTCGCCCCC CGGCGCACGC CCCTGGCCAG 2798 GGCCCTGGTG CTCGCGCGGG GCCGGGGCGG GTTCAATGCG GCGATGGTCG TGGCGGGGCC 2858 GCGCGCGGAG ACACGGTGAA GCGGCCCGGC GCAGCCGGAG CCGCGGTAAG AGGCCACGGA 2918 AGAGAGAGGG ATGCGACG GTG AAG CAG CAG CTG ACG ACG GAA CGG CTC ATG 2969 Val Lys Gin Gin Leu Thr Thr Glu Arg Leu Met 1 5 10 GAG ATC ATG CGG GAG TGC GCG GGC TAC GGT GAG GAC GTC GAC GCT CTG 3017 Glu He Met Arg Glu Cys Ala Gly Tyr Gly Glu Asp Val Asp Ala Leu 15 20 25 GGC GAC ACG GAC GGC GCC GAC TTC GCC GCA CTC GGC TAC GAC TCG CTG 3065 Gly Asp Thr Asp Gly Ala Asp Phe Ala Ala Leu Gly Tyr Asp Ser Leu 30 35 40 GCG CTC CTG GAA ACG GCC GGC CGG CTC GAG CGC GAG TTC GGC ATC CAG 3113 Ala Leu Leu Glu Thr Ala Gly Arg Leu Glu Arg Glu Phe Gly He Gin 45 50 55 CTC GGT GAC GAG GTG GTC GCC GAC GCC AGG ACG CCT GCC GAG CTG ACC 3161 Leu Gly Asp Glu Val Val Ala Asp Ala Arg Thr Pro Ala Glu Leu Thr 60 65 70 75 GCC CTG GTC AAC CGG ACG GTG GCC GAG GCG GCC TGACCCGGCC GGCCCACGAG 3214 Ala Leu Val Asn Arg Thr Val Ala Glu Ala Ala 80 85 AGCGGGGTGA CGCGTGTGTA CGGCACGGAA CTCACACA 3252 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 2: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 430 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 2: Met Lys Glu Ser He Asn Arg Arg Val Val He Thr Gly He Gly He 1 5 10 15 Val Ala Pro Asp Ala Thr Gly Val Lys Pro Phe Trp Asp Leu Leu Thr 20 25 30 Ala Gly Arg Thr Ala Thr Arg Thr He Thr Ala Phe Asp Pro Ser Pro 35 40 45 Phe Arg Ser Arg He Ala Ala Glu Cys Asp Phe Asp Pro Leu Ala Glu 50 55 60 Gly Leu Thr Pro Gin Gin He Arg Arg Met Asp Arg Ala Thr Gin Phe 65 70 75 80 Ala Val Val Ser Ala Arg Glu Ser Leu Glu Asp Ser Gly Leu Asp Leu 85 90 95 Gly Ala Leu Asp Ala Ser Arg Thr Gly Val Val Val Gly Ser Ala Val 100 105 110 Gly Cys Thr Thr Ser Leu Glu Glu Glu Tyr Ala Val Val Ser Asp Ser 115 120 125 Gly Arg Asn Trp Leu Val Asp Asp Gly Tyr Ala Val Pro His Leu Phe 130 135 140 Asp Tyr Phe Val Pro Ser Ser He Ala Ala Glu Val Ala His Asp Arg 145 150 155 160 He Gly Ala Glu Gly Pro Val Ser Leu Val Ser Thr Gly Cys Thr Ser 165 170 175 Gly Leu Asp Ala Val Gly Arg Ala Ala Asp Leu He Ala Glu Gly Ala 180 185 190 Ala Asp Val Met Leu Ala Gly Ala Thr Glu Ala Pro He Ser Pro He 195 200 205 Thr Val Ala Cys Phe Asp Ala He Lys Ala Thr Thr Pro Arg Asn Asp 210 215 220 Thr Pro Ala Glu Ala Ser Arg Pro Phe Asp Arg Thr Arg Asn Gly Phe 225 230 235 240 Val Leu Gly Glu Gly Ala Ala Val Phe Val Leu Glu Glu Phe Glu His 245 250 255 Ala Arg Arg Arg Gly Ala Leu Val Tyr Ala Glu He Ala Gly Phe Ala 260 265 270 Thr Arg Cys Asn Ala Phe His Met Thr Gly Leu Arg Pro Asp Gly Arg 275 280 285 Glu Met Ala Glu Ala He Gly Val Ala Leu Ala Gin Ala Gly Lys Ala 290 295 300 Pro Ala Asp Val Asp Tyr Val Asn Ala His Gly Ser Gly Thr Arg Gin 305 310 315 320 Asn Asp Arg His Glu Thr Ala Ala Phe Lys Arg Ser Leu Gly Asp His 325 330 335 Ala Tyr Arg Val Pro Val Ser Ser He Lys Ser Met He Gly His Ser 340 345 350 Leu Gly Ala He Gly Ser Leu Glu He Ala Ala Ser Val Leu Ala He 355 360 365 Thr His Asp Val Val Pro Pro Thr Ala Asn Leu His Glu Pro Asp Pro 370 375 380 Glu Cys Asp Leu Asp Tyr Val Pro Leu Arg Ala Arg Ala Cys Pro Val 385 390 395 400 Asp Thr Val Leu Thr Val Gly Ser Gly Phe Gly Gly Phe Gin Ser Ala 405 410 415 Met Val Leu Cys Gly Pro Gly Ser Arg Gly Arg Ser Ala Ala 420 425 430 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 3: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 86 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 3: Val Lys Gin Gin Leu Thr Thr Glu Arg Leu Met Glu He Met Arg Glu 1 5 10 15 Cys Ala Gly Tyr Gly Glu Asp Val Asp Ala Leu Gly Asp Thr Asp Gly 20 25 30 Ala Asp Phe Ala Ala Leu Gly Tyr Asp Ser Leu Ala Leu Leu Glu Thr 35 40 45 Ala Gly Arg Leu Glu Arg Glu Phe Gly He Gin Leu Gly Asp Glu Val 50 55 60 Val Ala Asp Ala Arg Thr Pro Ala Glu Leu Thr Ala Leu Val Asn Arg 65 70 75 80 Thr Val Ala Glu Ala Ala 85 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 4: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 3252 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic) (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: NO (iii) ANTI-SENSE: NO (vi) ORIGINAL SOURCE: (B) STRAIN: Streptomyces nogalater ATCC 27451 (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: CDS (B) LOCATION: 1648..2877 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: /note= "ORF2" (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 4: GAATTCGGCC GTACCCCGAC GGCCGATTCC TTACCCTTCC GGAGCGGCTT GCGGATCGCA 60 GGACGAAGTC CTCCCTCTCC CCCCATCGGG CGTCCGCTCT TTGTGACCGG TTCACGAGTC 120 GGGTTCCAGC GCTCCTCGAC TCAGGATCGA CCCCTTCCGC GGTAGCCGCC CCGCAGGAAC 180 CGCAAACCTT CCGCGCCGGT CCCGCCGGGC TTCGCCGCAC CCGTCCATCC GTCATTGAGC 240 TGATTTCGAG ACAGGACGCG CACTGTCACC ACGAGCCCTG TGCGGTTGAA GTCATCACCT 300 GTCCGCGCAC AGGAACTTCA AGACGATCAA AGCCCCTAGT GAAGGGCATC TTCGACGAAT 360 GAAGGAATCC ATCAACCGTC GCGTGGTCAT CACCGGAATA GGGATCGTCG CGCCCGATGC 420 CACCGGGGTG AAACCGTTCT GGGATCTGCT GACGGCCGGT CGCACCGCGA CCCGGACCAT 480 CACCGCCTTC GATCCCTCTC CGTTCCGTTC CCGCATCGCC GCGGAATGCG ATTTCGACCC 540 GCTTGCCGAA GGGCTGACCC CCCAGCAGAT CCGGCGTATG GACCGGGCCA CGCAGTTCGC 600 GGTCGTCAGC GCCCGGGAAA GCCTGGAGGA CAGCGGACTC GACCTCGGCG CCCTGGACGC 660 CTCCCGCACC GGCGTGGTCG TCGGCAGCGC GGTCGGCTGC ACCACGAGCC TGGAAGAGGA 720 GTACGCGGTC GTCAGCGACA GCGGCCGGAA CTGGCTGGTC GACGACGGCT ACGCCGTACC 780 GCACCTATTC GACTACTTCG TGCCCAGCTC CATCGCCGCC GAGGTGGCAC ACGACCGCAT 840 CGGCGCGGAG GGCCCCGTCA GCCTCGTGTC GACCGGGTGC ACCTCGGGCC TGGACGCCGT 900 GGGCCGCGCG GCCGACCTGA TCGCCGAGGG AGCGGCGGAT GTGATGCTGG CCGGTGCGAC 960 CGAGGCGCCC ATCTCCCCCA TCACCGTGGC GTGCTTCGAT GCCATCAAGG CGACCACCCC 1020 CCGCAACGAC ACGCCCGCCG AGGCGTCCCG TCCGTTCGAC CGCACCAGGA ACGGGTTCGT 1080 ACTCGGCGAG GGCGCTGCCG TGTTCGTCCT GGAGGAGTTC GAACACGCGC GCCGCCGGGG 1140 CGCGCTCGTG TACGCGGAGA TCGCCGGGTT CGCCACTCGC TGCAACGCCT TCCACATGAC 1200 CGGTCTGCGC CCGGACGGGC GGGAGATGGC GGAGGCCATC GGGGTGGCGC TCGCCCAGGC 1260 GGGCAAGGCG CCGGCTGACG TCGACTACGT CAACGCCCAC GGTTCCGGCA CCCGGCAGAA 1320 TGACCGTCAC GAGACGGCGG CCTTCAAGCG CAGTCTCGGC GACCACGCCT ACCGGGTCCC 1380 GGTCAGCAGC ATCAAATCCA TGATCGGGCA CTCGCTGGGC GCGATCGGCT CCCTGGAGAT 1440 CGCCGCCTCC GTGCTGGCCA TCACACACGA CGTGGTGCCG CCCACCGCCA ATCTGCACGA 1500 GCCGGATCCC GAGTGCGATC TGGACTACGT GCCGCTGCGG GCGCGTGCGT GCCCGGTGGA 1560 CACGGTGCTC ACGGTGGGCA GCGGGTTCGG CGGTTTCCAG AGCGCCATGG TGCTGTGCGG 1620 TCCGGGCTCG CGGGGAAGGT CGGCCGC GTG ACG GCC GCC GTG GTG GTG ACC 1671 Val Thr Ala Ala Val Val Val Thr 1 5 GGT CTC GGC GTC GTC GCC CCC ACC GGT CTC GGG GTG CGG GAG CAC TGG 1719 Gly Leu Gly Val Val Ala Pro Thr Gly Leu Gly Val Arg Glu His Trp 10 15 20 TCG AGT ACG GTC CGG GGG GCG TCG GCG ATC GGA CCG GTC ACC CGG TTC 1767 Ser Ser Thr Val Arg Gly Ala Ser Ala He Gly Pro Val Thr Arg Phe 25 30 35 40 GAC GCC GGC CGG TAC CCC AGC AAA CTG GCC GGA GAG GTG CCC GGT TTC 1815 Asp Ala Gly Arg Tyr Pro Ser Lys Leu Ala Gly Glu Val Pro Gly Phe 45 50 55 GTC CCG GAG GAC CAT CTG CCC AGC CGG CTG ATG CCG CAG ACG GAC CAT 1863 Val Pro Glu Asp His Leu Pro Ser Arg Leu Met Pro Gin Thr Asp His 60 65 70 ATG ACG CGC CTG GCG CTC GTC GCG GCG GAC TGG GCC TTC CAG GAC GCC 1911 Met Thr Arg Leu Ala Leu Val Ala Ala Asp Trp Ala Phe Gin Asp Ala 75 80 85 GCC GTG GAC CCG TCG AAG CTG CCG GAG TAC GGC GTC GGC GTG GTC ACC 1959 Ala Val Asp Pro Ser Lys Leu Pro Glu Tyr Gly Val Gly Val Val Thr 90 95 100 GCG AGT TCG GCG GGG GGG TTC GAA TTC GGC CAC CGC GAG CTG CAG AAC 2007 Ala Ser Ser Ala Gly Gly Phe Glu Phe Gly His Arg Glu Leu Gin Asn 105 110 115 120 CTG TGG AGC CTG GGC CCG CAG TAC GTC AGC GCG TAT CAG TCG TTC GCA 2055 Leu Trp Ser Leu Gly Pro Gin Tyr Val Ser Ala Tyr Gin Ser Phe Ala 125 130 135 TGG TTC TAT GCC GTG AAC ACC GGT CAG GTG TCC ATC CGG CAC GGG CTG 2103 Trp Phe Tyr Ala Val Asn Thr Gly Gin Val Ser He Arg His Gly Leu 140 145 150 CGC GGC CCG GGC GGG GTG CTG GTG ACG GAA CAG GCG GGC GGC CTG GAC 2151 Arg Gly Pro Gly Gly Val Leu Val Thr Glu Gin Ala Gly Gly Leu Asp 155 160 165 GCC CTT GGG CAG GCC CGG CGG CAG TTG CGG CGC GGA CTG CCG ATG GTG 2199 Ala Leu Gly Gin Ala Arg Arg Gin Leu Arg Arg Gly Leu Pro Met Val 170 175 180 GTC GCG GGA GCC GTT GAC GGC TCG CCC TGC CCC TGG GGC TGG GTG GCG 2247 Val Ala Gly Ala Val Asp Gly Ser Pro Cys Pro Trp Gly Trp Val Ala 185 190 195 200 CAG CTC AGC TCG GGC GGC CTC AGC ACG TCG GAC GAC CCG CGC CGG GCC 2295 Gin Leu Ser Ser Gly Gly Leu Ser Thr Ser Asp Asp Pro Arg Arg Ala 205 210 215 TAT CTG CCG TTC GAC GCC GCA GCC GGC GGA CAC GTG CCG GGA GAG GGC 2343 Tyr Leu Pro Phe Asp Ala Ala Ala Gly Gly His Val Pro Gly Glu Gly 220 225 230 GGC GCC CTG CTC GTC CTG GAG AGC GAC GAG TCG GCC CGG GCG CGC GGG 2391 Gly Ala Leu Leu Val Leu Glu Ser Asp Glu Ser Ala Arg Ala Arg Gly 235 240 245 GTG ACG CGG TGG TAC GGG CGC ATC GAT GGG TAC GCC GCC ACA TTC GAC 2439 Val Thr Arg Trp Tyr Gly Arg He Asp Gly Tyr Ala Ala Thr Phe Asp 250 255 260 CCC CCG CCC GGT TCG GGG CGC CCG CCG AAC CTG CTG CGG GCC GCG CAG 2487 Pro Pro Pro Gly Ser Gly Arg Pro Pro Asn Leu Leu Arg Ala Ala Gin 265 270 275 280 GCG GCA CTG GAC GAC GCG GAG GTC GGA CCC GAG GCG GTC GAC GTG GTG 2535 Ala Ala Leu Asp Asp Ala Glu Val Gly Pro Glu Ala Val Asp Val Val 285 290 295 TTC GCG GAC GCG TCC GGC ACC CCG GAC GAG GAC GCG GCG GAG GCC GAC 2583 Phe Ala Asp Ala Ser Gly Thr Pro Asp Glu Asp Ala Ala Glu Ala Asp 300 305 310 GCG GTG CGG CGC CTG TTC GGA CCG TAC GGC GTT CCG GTG ACG GCG CCG 2631 Ala Val Arg Arg Leu Phe Gly Pro Tyr Gly Val Pro Val Thr Ala Pro 315 320 325 AAG ACC ATG ACC GGC CGC CTC AGC GCG GGC GGC GCG GCC CTC GAC GTG 2679 Lys Thr Met Thr Gly Arg Leu Ser Ala Gly Gly Ala Ala Leu Asp Val 330 335 340 GCG ACG GCG CTG CTG GCG CTG CGC GAG GGC GTC GTC CCG CCG ACG GTC 2727 Ala Thr Ala Leu Leu Ala Leu Arg Glu Gly Val Val Pro Pro Thr Val 345 350 355 360 AAC GTC TCC CGG CCG CGG CCG GAG TAC GAG CTG GAC CTG GTG CTC GCC 2775 Asn Val Ser Arg Pro Arg Pro Glu Tyr Glu Leu Asp Leu Val Leu Ala 365 370 375 CCC CGG CGC ACG CCC CTG GCC AGG GCC CTG GTG CTC GCG CGG GGC CGG 2823 Pro Arg Arg Thr Pro Leu Ala Arg Ala Leu Val Leu Ala Arg Gly Arg 380 385 390 GGC GGG TTC AAT GCG GCG ATG GTC GTG GCG GGG CCG CGC GCG GAG ACA 2871 Gly Gly Phe Asn Ala Ala Met Val Val Ala Gly Pro Arg Ala Glu Thr 395 400 405 CGG TGAAGCGGCC CGGCGCAGCC GGAGCCGCGG TAAGAGGCCA CGGAAGAGAG 2924 Arg 410 AGGGATGCGA CGGTGAAGCA GCAGCTGACG ACGGAACGGC TCATGGAGAT CATGCGGGAG 2984 TGCGCGGGCT ACGGTGAGGA CGTCGACGCT CTGGGCGACA CGGACGGCGC CGACTTCGCC 3044 GCACTCGGCT ACGACTCGCT GGCGCTCCTG GAAACGGCCG GCCGGCTCGA GCGCGAGTTC 3104 GGCATCCAGC TCGGTGACGA GGTGGTCGCC GACGCCAGGA CGCCTGCCGA GCTGACCGCC 3164 CTGGTCAACC GGACGGTGGC CGAGGCGGCC TGACCCGGCC GGCCCACGAG AGCGGGGTGA 3224 CGCGTGTGTA CGGCACGGAA CTCACACA 3252 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 5: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 409 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 5: Val Thr Ala Ala Val Val Val Thr Gly Leu Gly Val Val Ala Pro Thr 1 5 10 15 Gly Leu Gly Val Arg Glu His Trp Ser Ser Thr Val Arg Gly Ala Ser 20 25 30 Ala He Gly Pro Val Thr Arg Phe Asp Ala Gly Arg Tyr Pro Ser Lys 35 40 45 Leu Ala Gly Glu Val Pro Gly Phe Val Pro Glu Asp His Leu Pro Ser 50 55 60 Arg Leu Met Pro Gin Thr Asp His Met Thr Arg Leu Ala Leu Val Ala 65 70 75 80 Ala Asp Trp Ala Phe Gin Asp Ala Ala Val Asp Pro Ser Lys Leu Pro 85 90 95 Glu Tyr Gly Val Gly Val Val Thr Ala Ser Ser Ala Gly Gly Phe Glu 100 105 110 Phe Gly His Arg Glu Leu Gin Asn Leu Trp Ser Leu Gly Pro Gin Tyr 115 120 125 Val Ser Ala Tyr Gin Ser Phe Ala Trp Phe Tyr Ala Val Asn Thr Gly 130 135 140 Gin Val Ser He Arg His Gly Leu Arg Gly Pro Gly Gly Val Leu Val 145 150 155 160 Thr Glu Gin Ala Gly Gly Leu Asp Ala Leu Gly Gin Ala Arg Arg Gin 165 170 175 Leu Arg Arg Gly Leu Pro Met Val Val Ala Gly Ala Val Asp Gly Ser 180 185 190 Pro Cys Pro Trp Gly Trp Val Ala Gin Leu Ser Ser Gly Gly Leu Ser 195 200 205 Thr Ser Asp Asp Pro Arg Arg Ala Tyr Leu Pro Phe Asp Ala Ala Ala 210 215 220 Gly Gly His Val Pro Gly Glu Gly Gly Ala Leu Leu Val Leu Glu Ser 225 230 235 240 Asp Glu Ser Ala Arg Ala Arg Gly Val Thr Arg Trp Tyr Gly Arg He 245 250 255 Asp Gly Tyr Ala Ala Thr Phe Asp Pro Pro Pro Gly Ser Gly Arg Pro 260 265 270 Pro Asn Leu Leu Arg Ala Ala Gin Ala Ala Leu Asp Asp Ala Glu Val 275 280 285 Gly Pro Glu Ala Val Asp Val Val Phe Ala Asp Ala Ser Gly Thr Pro 290 295 300 Asp Glu Asp Ala Ala Glu Ala Asp Ala Val Arg Arg Leu Phe Gly Pro 305 310 315 320 Tyr Gly Val Pro Val Thr Ala Pro Lys Thr Met Thr Gly Arg Leu Ser 325 330 335 Ala Gly Gly Ala Ala Leu Asp Val Ala Thr Ala Leu Leu Ala Leu Arg 340 345 350 Glu Gly Val Val Pro Pro Thr Val Asn Val Ser Arg Pro Arg Pro Glu 355 360 365 Tyr Glu Leu Asp Leu Val Leu Ala Pro Arg Arg Thr Pro Leu Ala Arg 370 375 380 Ala Leu Val Leu Ala Arg Gly Arg Gly Gly Phe Asn Ala Ala Met Val 385 390 395 400 Val Ala Gly Pro Arg Ala Glu Thr Arg 405 INDICATIONS RELATING TO A DEPOSITED MICROORGANISM (PCT Rule 13bis) The indications made below relate to the microorganism referred to in the description on page ^" , ' l<i"n*e 25 B. IDENTIFICATION OF DEPOSIT Further deposits are identified on an additional sheet | Name of depositary institution Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen (DSM) Address of depositary institution (including postal code and country) Mascheroder Weg 1 b, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany Date of deposit Accession Number 15 September 1994 DSM 9436 C. ADDITIONAL, INDICATIONS (leave blank if not applicable) This information is coniinued on an additional sheet In respect of those designations in which a European patent or a patent in Finland or Norway is sought, a sample of the deposited microorganism will be made available until the publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent or the corresponding information concerning the patent i Finland or Norway or until the date on which the application has been refused or withdrawn or is deemed to be withdrawn, only by the issue of such a sample to an expert nominated by the person r questing the sample (Rule 28(4) EPC and the corresponding regulations in Finland and Norway). D. DESIGNATED STATES FOR WHICH INDICATIONS ARE MADE (if the indications are not for all designated Stales) E. SEPARATE FURNISHING OF INDICATIONS (leave blank if not applicable) The indications listed below will be submitted to the International Bureau later (specify the general naiure of the indications eg., 'Accessio Number of Deposit') Indications relating to deposited microorganisms Continuation to C. ADDITIONAL INDICATIONS DSM 9436 When designating Australia, in accordance with regulation 3.25 of the Patents Regulations (Australia Statutory Rules 1991 No. 71), samples of materials deposited in accordance with the Budapest Treaty in relation to this Patent Request are only to be provided before: the patent is granted on the application; or the application has lapsed or been withdrawn or refused; to a person who is: a skilled addressee without an interest in the invention; and nominated by a person who makes a request for the furnishing of those samples.

Claims: Claims 1. Isolated and purified DNA-fragment, which is a gene fragment of the anthracycline biosynthetic pathway of the bacterium Streptomyces nogalater being included in an αct/-hybridizing 12 kb βg/II-fragment of S. nogalater genome. 2. DNA-fragment according to claim 1, which comprises the nucleotide sequence given in SEQ ID NO:l or a functional part thereof. 3. Recombinant-DNA-construction, which comprises the DNA-fragment according to claim 1 or 2, included in a plasmid which can be transferred into a Streptomyces - bacterium and is copied therein. 4. Recombinant-DNA-construction according to claim 3 which is the plasmid pSY15, the structure of which is given in Fig. 3, and which was deposited in S. lividans strain TK24/pSY15 with the deposition number DSM 9436. 5. Process for the production of anthracyclines and precursors thereof, comprising transferring the DNA-fragment according to claim 1 or 2 into a foreign Streptomyces host, cultivating the recombinant strain obtained, and isolating the products formed. 6. Process according to claim 5, wherein the Streptomyces host is S. lividans or S. galilaeus. 7. Process according to claim 5 for producing auramycinone or glycosides thereof, comprising transferring the DNA-fragment according to claim 2 into Streptomyces galilaeus host or a mutant thereof, cultivating the recombinant strain so obtained and isolating auramycinone or a glycoside thereof as formed. 8. Process according to claim 7, wherein the Streptomyces galilaeus host is the mutant strain H028 of S. galilaeus ATCC 31615. 9. An anthracycline precursor which is obtainable according to claim 5 and has the following formula I

Inventors: HAKALA JUHA, MAENTSAELAE PEKKA, YLIHONKO KRISTIINA, HAKALA, JUHA, MAENTSAELAE, PEKKA, YLIHONKO, KRISTIINA
Applicants: GALILAEUS OY, HAKALA JUHA, MAENTSAELAE PEKKA, YLIHONKO KRISTIINA, HAKALA, JUHA, MAENTSAELAE, PEKKA, YLIHONKO, KRISTIINA
Application year: 1995
Main classification: C07K14
IPC codes: C12N15, C12P15, C12P19, C12R1