Bacteria from the Amycolatopsis genus associated with a toxic bird secrete protective secondary metabolites

Elena Seibel, Soohyun Um, Kasun H. Bodawatta, Anna J. Komor, Tanya Decker, Janis Fricke, Robert Murphy, Gibson Maiah, Bulisa Iova, Hannah Maus, Tanja Schirmeister, Knud Andreas Jønsson, Michael Poulsen, Christine Beemelmanns*

*Corresponding author af dette arbejde

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningpeer review

2 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Uropygial gland secretions of birds consist of host and bacteria derived compounds and play a major sanitary and feather-protective role. Here we report on our microbiome studies of the New Guinean toxic bird Pachycephala schlegelii and the isolation of a member of the Amycolatopsis genus from the uropygial gland secretions. Bioactivity studies in combination with co-cultures, MALDI imaging and HR-MS/MS-based network analyses unveil the basis of its activity against keratinolytic bacteria and fungal skin pathogens. We trace the protective antimicrobial activity of Amycolatopsis sp. PS_44_ISF1 to the production of rifamycin congeners, ciromicin A and of two yet unreported compound families. We perform NMR and HR-MS/MS studies to determine the relative structures of six members belonging to a yet unreported lipopeptide family of pachycephalamides and of one representative of the demiguisins, a new hexapeptide family. We then use a combination of phylogenomic, transcriptomic and knock-out studies to identify the underlying biosynthetic gene clusters responsible for the production of pachycephalamides and demiguisins. Our metabolomics data allow us to map molecular ion features of the identified metabolites in extracts of P. schlegelii feathers, verifying their presence in the ecological setting where they exert their presumed active role for hosts. Our study shows that members of the Actinomycetota may play a role in avian feather protection.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
Artikelnummer8524
TidsskriftNature Communications
Vol/bind15
Antal sider16
ISSN2041-1723
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2024

Bibliografisk note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.

Citationsformater