Abstract
The Prodiginine family consists of primarily red-pigmented tripyrrole secondary metabolites that were first characterized in the Gram-negative bacterial species Serratia marcescens and demonstrates a wide array of biological activities and applications. Derivatives of prodiginine have since been characterized in the marine γ-proteobacterium, Pseudoalteromonas. Although biosynthetic gene clusters involved in prodiginine synthesis display homology among genera, there is an evident structural difference in the resulting metabolites. This review will summarize prodiginine biosynthesis, bioactivity, and gene regulation in Pseudoalteromonas in comparison to the previously characterized species of Serratia, discuss the ecological contributions of Pseudoalteromonas in the marine microbiome and their eukaryotic hosts, and consider the importance of modern functional genomics and classic DNA manipulation to understand the overall prodiginine biosynthesis pathway.
Highlights
The Prodiginine family consists of primarily red-pigmented secondary metabolites that are characterized by their tripyrrole structure
Prodigiosin is ubiquitous throughout various genera within the terrestrial and marine environment, suggesting that the metabolite may be ecologically advantageous to prodiginine-producing bacteria
Recent literature suggests that the pig pathway can undergo horizontal gene transfer, which may explain the homology between prodigiosin gene clusters in Serratia and Pseudoalteromonas (Coulhurst et al, 2006; Williamson et al, 2006; Figure 1B)
Summary
The Prodiginine family consists of primarily red-pigmented secondary metabolites that are characterized by their tripyrrole structure. The presence of pigmented metabolites like prodiginine and tambjamines in species of Pseudoalteromonas is interesting because the genus is commonly associated with macroorganisms, such as algae (Dobretsov and Qian, 2002), fish (Pratheepa and Vasconcelos, 2013), sponges (Sakai-Kawada et al, 2016), and tunicates (Holmström et al, 1998). This host-microbe interaction provides the microorganism with nutrients to flourish, while providing the host with valuable resources that may contribute to nutrient cycling or defense (Webster and Taylor, 2012). These ideas may provide further insight into the role prodiginines play in Pseudoalteromonas, their hosts, and the marine microbiome
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