A Link between Linearmycin Biosynthesis and Extracellular Vesicle Genesis Connects Specialized Metabolism and Bacterial Membrane Physiology.

Specialized metabolites support bacterial competitive fitness as antibiotics, signals, pigments, and metal scavengers. Little is known about how specialized metabolites are processed and trafficked for their diverse competitive functions. Linearmycins A and B are linear polyketides with antifungal and antibacterial activity but are colony-localized in imaging mass spectrometry of Streptomyces sp. Mg1 (S. sp. Mg1). To decipher a connection between colony localization and antibiotic activity, we identified the linearmycin gene cluster and investigated linearmycin production and distribution by S. sp. Mg1. Our results uncover a large family of variant linearmycins with limited solubility in aqueous solution. We hypothesized that extracellular vesicles may traffic the lipid-like linearmycins. We found that vesicles isolated from culture supernatants contained linearmycins. Surprisingly, abolishing production of linearmycins in S. sp. Mg1 also diminished extracellular vesicle production. Our results reveal integration of linearmycin biosynthesis with production of extracellular vesicles, suggesting a deep connection between specialized metabolism and bacterial membrane physiology.