Characterisation of aminoglycoside acetyltransferase-encoding genes of neomycin-producing Micromonospora chalcea and Streptomyces fradiae.

Two genes (aac) encoding aminoglycoside-N-acetyltransferase from Streptomyces fradiae and Micromonospora chalcea were cloned: the former identified by hybridization with a homologous gene from Streptomyces rimosus forma paromomycinus, the second by direct expression in Streptomyces lividans using pIJ702 as a vector. These two genes showed pronounced nucleotide and amino acid sequence similarities between themselves and also between previously described streptomycetes aac genes. Comparison of the flanking sequence of actinomycetes aac genes indicates considerable divergence, contrary to the notion that clustered biosynthetic genes for structurally related antibiotics were disseminated in their entirety between microbial species.