A tetR family transcriptional regulatory gene (SCO1712) was identified as a global antibiotic regulatory gene from a Streptomyces interspecies DNA microarray analysis. SCO1712 disruption in S treptomyces coelicolor not only upregulated antibiotic biosynthesis through pathway-specific regulators when a previously identified pleiotropic downregulatory wblA was expressed but also further stimulated antibiotic production in a wblA deletion mutant, implying that SCO1712 might encode a novel antibiotic downregulator.