Streptomyces clavuligerus

{{Short description|Species of Gram-positive bacterium}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}

{{Speciesbox

| genus = Streptomyces

| species = clavuligerus

| authority = Higgens & Kastner 1971

}}

Streptomyces clavuligerus is a species of Gram-positive bacterium notable for producing clavulanic acid.{{cite journal |vauthors=Reading C, Cole M |title=Clavulanic Acid: a Beta-Lactamase-Inhibiting Beta-Lactam from Streptomyces clavuligerus |journal=Antimicrob Agents Chemother |volume=11 |issue=5 |pages=852–7 |year=1977 |pmid=879738 |pmc=352086 |doi=10.1128/aac.11.5.852}}

S. clavuligerus ATCC 27064 (NRRL 3585, DSM 738) was first described by Higgens and Kastner (1971), who isolated it from a South American soil sample.{{cite journal |vauthors=Higgens CE, Kastner RE | title = Streptomyces clavuligerus sp. nov., a beta-lactam antibiotic producer | journal = International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology | year = 1971 | volume = 21 | issue = 4| pages = 326–31 | doi = 10.1099/00207713-21-4-326 | doi-access = free }} Its name refers to the shape of its spore-bearing hyphal branches: from the Latin clavula 'little club' and igerus 'bearing'. S. clavuligerus spores are gray to grayish-green.

S. clavuligerus produces over 20 secondary metabolites, including many beta-lactam antibiotics such as clavulanic acid, cephamycin C, deacetoxycephalosporin C, penicillin N (an intermediate in cephamycin C pathway), and at least four other clavams.{{cite journal |vauthors=((Nabais AMA)), ((Dafonseca MMR)) | title = The Effect of Solid Medium Composition on Growth and Sporulation of Streptomyces-Clavuligerus - Spore Viability During Storage at +4-Degrees-C | journal = Biotechnology Techniques | year = 1995 | volume = 9 | issue = 5| pages = 361–4 | doi = 10.1007/BF00638871 }}{{cite journal |vauthors=Tahlan K, Anders C, Jensen S |title=The Paralogous Pairs of Genes Involved in Clavulanic Acid and Clavam Metabolite Biosynthesis Are Differently Regulated in Streptomyces clavuligerus |journal=J Bacteriol |volume=186 |issue=18 |pages=6286–97 |year=2004 |pmid=15342599 |doi=10.1128/JB.186.18.6286-6297.2004 |pmc=515150}} Non-β-lactam antibiotics include holomycin and an antibiotic complex, MM 19290, related to tunicamycin;{{cite journal |vauthors=Baggaley K, Brown A, Schofield C |title=Chemistry and biosynthesis of clavulanic acid and other clavams |journal=Nat Prod Rep |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=309–33 |year=1997 |pmid=9281835 |doi=10.1039/np9971400309}} a beta-lactamase-inhibitory protein (BLIP) has also been described.{{cite journal |vauthors=Doran J, Leskiw B, Aippersbach S, Jensen S |title=Isolation and characterization of a beta-lactamase-inhibitory protein from Streptomyces clavuligerus and cloning and analysis of the corresponding gene |journal=J Bacteriol |volume=172 |issue=9 |pages=4909–18 |year=1990 |pmid=2203736 |pmc=213145|doi=10.1128/jb.172.9.4909-4918.1990 }} For S. clavuligerus ATCC 27064, a teleocidin biosynthetic gene cluster was identified in early isolates held at ATCC, apparently missing from later isolates used for industrial production of clavulanic acid.{{cite journal |last1=Pivk Lukančič |first1=P |last2=Drčar |first2=T |last3=Bruccoleri |first3=R |last4=Črnugelj |first4=M |last5=Mrak |first5=P |title=Teleocidin-producing genotype of Streptomyces clavuligerus ATCC 27064. |journal=Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology |date=February 2022 |volume=106 |issue=4 |pages=1521–1530 |doi=10.1007/s00253-022-11805-5 |pmid=35138454 |pmc=8882083 }}

Another important characteristic of S. clavuligerus is that it is not able to use glucose as a carbon source because it lacks a glucose transport system.{{cite journal |vauthors=Aharonowitz Y, Demain A |title=Carbon Catabolite Regulation of Cephalosporin Production in Streptomyces clavuligerus |journal=Antimicrob Agents Chemother |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=159–64 |date=1 August 1978| pmid=697343 |pmc=352426 |doi=10.1128/aac.14.2.159}}{{cite journal |vauthors=Garcia-Dominguez M, Martin J, Liras P |title=Characterization of sugar uptake in wild-type Streptomyces clavuligerus, which is impaired in glucose uptake, and in a glucose-utilizing mutant |journal=J Bacteriol |volume=171 |issue=12 |pages=6808–14 |year=1989 |pmid=2687256 |pmc=210580|doi=10.1128/jb.171.12.6808-6814.1989 }}

It also possesses all the enzymes of the urea cycle, which is unusual for a prokaryote, although it is not clear whether the urea cycle is functional.{{Cite journal | author = Kirk S | title = The physiology of clavulanic acid production by Streptomyces clavuligerus (PhD thesis) | publisher = University of Surrey, UK | year = 2000 }}