Genes essential for morphological development and antibiotic production in Streptomyces coelicolor are targets of BldD during vegetative growth.

BldD is a transcriptional regulator essential for morphological development and antibiotic production in Streptomyces coelicolor. Here we identify the BldD regulon by means of chromatin immunoprecipitation-microarray analysis (ChIP-chip). The BldD regulon encompasses ~167 transcriptional units, of which more than 20 are known to play important roles in development (e.g. bldA, bldC, bldH/adpA, bldM, bldN, ssgA, ssgB, ftsZ, whiB, whiG, smeA-ssfA) and/or secondary metabolism (e.g. nsdA, cvn9, bldA, bldC, leuA). Strikingly, 42 BldD target genes (~25% of the regulon) encode regulatory proteins, stressing the central, pleiotropic role of BldD. Almost all BldD binding sites identified by ChIP-chip are present in the promoters of the target genes. An exception is the tRNA gene bldA, where BldD binds within the region encoding the primary transcript, immediately downstream of the position corresponding to the processed, mature 3 end of the tRNA. Through gene overexpression, we identified a novel BldD target gene (cdgA) that influences differentiation and antibiotic production. cdgA encodes a GGDEF domain protein, implicating c-di-GMP in the regulation of Streptomyces development. Sequence analysis of the upstream regions of the complete regulon identified a 15 bp inverted repeat that functions as a high-affinity binding site for BldD, as was shown by electrophoretic mobility shift assays and DNase I footprinting analysis. High-scoring copies of the BldD binding site were found at relevant positions in the genomes of other bacteria containing a BldD homologue, suggesting the role of BldD is conserved in sporulating actinomycetes.