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Establishment and Demonstration of a Rapid Identification Method for Microbial Signaling Molecules Regulating Compound Production
Results published in “RSC Chemical Biology” on February 25, 2025.
2025.03.07
Actinomycetes are an important group of microorganisms in drug discovery and industry, known for their ability to produce beneficial compounds, including antibiotics. The production of these compounds is regulated by signaling molecules (self-regulatory molecules). These signaling molecules play a crucial role in the exceptional biosynthetic capabilities of actinomycetes; however, only a few have been clearly identified. One reason for this is that signaling molecules are produced at extremely low concentrations, making their analysis highly labor-intensive.
In this study, FRIS Associate Professor Yuta Kudo and his group have developed two original methods for the rapid identification of signaling molecules:
- By co-culturing actinomycetes with a resin (adsorbent) that enhances the production of signaling molecules, they successfully isolated and determined the structure of these molecules at a scale 1/100 of conventional methods.
- They established a chemo-enzymatic synthesis method by combining organic synthesis with enzymatic reactions utilizing biosynthetic enzymes from actinomycetes. This method enabled the efficient synthesis of signaling molecules and their rapid identification from various actinomycetes employing 12 synthetic standards.
Furthermore, this research marks the first discovery of optical isomers of signaling molecules from actinomycetes. By elucidating the structural diversity and distribution of these molecules, the study expands our understanding of the regulatory mechanisms governing secondary metabolism in actinomycetes. Moving forward, these findings are expected to contribute to the increased production of valuable compounds and the discovery of novel bioactive substances.
The results of this study have been published in RSC Chemical Biology, a journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and were made available online as an early release on February 25, 2025. The paper is open access.
Publication Details:
•Title: Establishment and Demonstration of a Rapid Identification Method for Microbial Signaling Molecules Regulating Compound Production
•Author: Yuta Kudo*, Keiichi Konoki and Mari Yotsu-Yamashita (*corresponding author)
•Journal: RSC Chemical Biology
•DOI: 10.1039/d5cb00007f
•URL: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2025/cb/d5cb00007f