[Analysis of mechanism and relationship of GacA and RsmA, two regulators of antibiotics production in Pseudomonas sp. M18].

In previous study, it has already been confirmed that the wild type strain of Pseudomonas sp. M18 isolated from the agricultural soil can produce two antifungal agents phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA) and pyoluteorin (Plt). Biosynthesis and secretion of these secondary metabolites contribute to its biological control and suppression of soilborne pathogenic fungi. As main regulators, GacA and RsmA differentially exert global regulation on production of PCA and Plt, respectively. In order to study the regulatory mechanism of secondary metabolites production in Pseudomonas sp. M18, a gacArsmA double mutant, designated as M18GR, was constructed with insertional mutation. Then, the mutant M18G, M18R, M18GR and the wild type strain M18 were inoculated into PPM or King's medium B (KMB), respectively. During cultivation of strain M18 and its derivatives, their PCA and Pit were respectively detected with High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The results showed that PCA production in the mutant M18GR was lower than that in the mutant M18G and higher than that in the mutant M18R. Plt production in the mutant M18GR was, however, much less than that in the mutant M18R and much more than that in the strain M18 and the mutant M18G. With these observations, it is tempting to suggest that biosynthesis of PCA and Plt regulated by GacA or RsmA seem to occur at posttranscriptional level, not at transcriptional level. This regulation on secondary metabolites seems to be indirectly mediated by other unknown factors. Meanwhile, based on the construction of two translational fusions, gacA'-'lacZ and rsmA'-'lacZ, the assay of beta-galactosidase activities in KMB medium indicated that both GacA and RsmA did not have autoinduction of their own gene expression, respectively. Although GacA did not influence expression of the rsmA gene, RsmA could exert some positive influence on the gacA gene expression in Pseudomonas sp. M18.