Spontaneous Amplification of the Actinorhodin Gene Cluster in Streptomyces coelicolor Involving Native Insertion Sequence IS466

Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305; Institute of Genetics, National Yang-Ming University, Shih-Pai, Taipei112, Taiwan

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: ewidenbrant{at}stanfordalumni.org.

	Abstract

We observed a spontaneous amplification in the Streptomyces coelicolor chromosome including genes encoding biosynthetic enzymes of the antibiotic, actinorhodin. A new junction of two tandem segments has, inserted within it, a third copy of a transposable element existing twice elsewhere in the chromosome, suggesting its involvement in the amplification mechanism.