Cloning of a Streptomyces clavuligerus DNA fragment encoding the cephalosporin 7 alpha-hydroxylase and its expression in Streptomyces lividans.

A 26-mer DNA probe was designed from N-terminal sequence data for the cephalosporin 7 alpha-hydroxylase (CH) of Streptomyces clavuligerus NRRL 3585 and used to screen a DNA library from this organism. The library was constructed in the lambda GEM-11 phage system. After plaque purification and reprobing, positive recombinant phages were chosen for further analysis. Characterization of the cloned DNA by restriction mapping and Southern hybridization showed that a 1.5-kb SalI fragment hybridized to the probe. Polymerase chain reaction assays using this fragment as a template and the probe as a primer indicated that the fragment carries the entire putative CH gene (cmcI). This was confirmed through the expression of CH enzymatic activity when the fragment was introduced into Streptomyces lividans. A putative beta-lactamase activity was detected in S. lividans.