Crucial factor for increasing the conjugation frequency in Streptomyces netropsis SD-07 and other strains

Streptomyces netropsis SD-07, the producer of novel polyene macrolide antifungal antibiotics, was isolated from soil. For the investigation of the functions of its biosynthesis genes and regulation mechanisms, a genetic operating system is necessary. In this study, we successfully transferred the plasmid DNA of pSET152 from the methylation deficient donor, Escherichia coli ET12567/pSET152/pUZ8002, to S. netropsis SD-07 by conjugation and evaluated the crucial factors influencing the conjugation frequency. Ca2+ ions in presence the conjugation media may increase the conjugation frequency by 1000-10 000 times than Ca2+ ions absence in the same conjugation media, and 10-100 time higher than Mg2+ ions. Similar results (increasing the conjugation frequency by 10-100 times when media containing 60 mM CaCl2) were also obtained from the conjugation between E. coli ET12567 and Streptomyces coelicolor, S. lavendulae, S. venezuelae, despite their conjugation media were different (MS, CM, GS). So, CaCl2 concentration is a crucial factor for increasing the conjugation frequency, and the suitable concentration may probably be 60 mM. In addition, synthetic medium containing a small amount of organic nitrogen source may benefit increasing the conjugation frequency. These findings could be valuable for the development of a practical method for achieving conjugation in other Streptomyces spp.