CLONING AND HETEROLOGOUS EXPRESSION OF THE PHENAZINE BIOSYNTHETIC LOCUS FROM PSEUDOMONAS-AUREOFACIENS 30-84

Pseudomonas aureofaciens strain 30-84 suppresses take-all disease of wheat caused by Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici. Three antibiotics, phenazine-1-carboxylic acid, 2-hydroxyphenazine-1-carboxylic acid, and 2-hydroxyphenazine, were responsible for disease suppression. Tn5-induced mutants deficient in production of one or more of the antibiotics (Phz-) were significantly less suppressive than the parental strain. Cosmids pLSP259 and pLSP282 from a genomic library of strain 30-84 restored phenazine production and fungal inhibition to 10 different Phz- mutants. Sequences required for production of the phenazines were localized to a segment of approximately 2.8 kilobases that was present in both cosmids. Expression of this locus in Escherichia coli required the introduction of a functional promoter, was orientation-specific, and resulted in the production of all three phenazine antibiotics. These results strongly suggest that the cloned sequences encode a major portion of the phenazine biosynthetic pathway.