Genome-Based Discovery of a Novel Membrane-Bound 1,6-Dihydroxyphenazine Prenyltransferase from a Marine Actinomycete

Recently, novel prenylated derivatives of 1,6-dihydroxyphenazine have been isolated from the marine sponge-associated Streptomyces sp. SpC080624SC-11. Genome sequencing of this strain now revealed a gene cluster containing all genes necessary for the synthesis of the phenazine and the isoprenoid moieties. Unexpectedly, however, the cluster did not contain a gene with similarity to previously investigated phenazine prenyltransferases, but instead a gene with modest similarity to the membrane-bound prenyltransferases of ubiquinone and menaquinone biosynthesis. Expression of this gene in E. coli and isolation of the membrane fraction proved that the encoded enzyme, Mpz10, catalyzes two successive prenylations of 1,6-dihydroxyphenazine. Mpz10 is the first example of a membrane-bound enzyme catalyzing the prenylation of a phenazine substrate, and one of few examples of membrane-bound enzymes involved in the prenylation of aromatic secondary metabolites in microorganisms.