• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.356-365
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• 2004

In analyzing the region of the Amycolatopsis mediterranei S699 chromosome responsible for the biosynthesis of the ansamycin antibiotic rifamycin, we identified a gene, designated orj0, which is located immediately upstream of the rifamycin polyketide synthase (PKS). Orj0 encodes a protein, on the basis of sequence-comparative analysis, that is similar to several cytochrome P450 monooxygenases from different sources. The rifamycin producer, A. mediterranei, predominantly produces rifamycin B from its macrocyclic intermediate, proansamycin X, through dehydrogenation and hydroxylation steps. However, an A. mediterranei strain, deleted in orj0 by gene replacement, no longer produced rifamycin B. Furthermore, a versatile replicative vector in A. mediterranei was constructed and rifamycin B production was restored in a complementation experiment of orj0 using this novel vector. These consecutive results verified that the arf0 protein, which is a P450 hydroxylase, is required for the production of rifamycin B in A. mediterranei.