Spore awakening is a series of actions that starts with purely physical processes and continues via the launching of gene expression and metabolic activities, eventually achieving a vegetative phase of growth. In spore-forming microorganisms, the germination process is controlled by intra- and inter-species communication. However, in the Streptomyces clade, which is capable of developing a plethora of valuable compounds, the chemical signals produced during germination have not been systematically studied before. Our previously published data revealed that several secondary metabolite biosynthetic genes are expressed during germination. Therefore, we focus here on the secondary metabolite production during this developmental stage. Using high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, we found that the sesquiterpenoid antibiotic albaflavenone, the polyketide germicidin A, and chalcone are produced during germination of the model streptomycete, S. coelicolor. Interestingly, the last two compounds revealed an inhibitory effect on the germination process. The secondary metabolites originating from the early stage of microbial growth may coordinate the development of the producer (quorum sensing) and/or play a role in competitive microflora repression (quorum quenching) in their nature environments.

In bacteria, small RNAs (sRNAs) make important regulatory contributions to an ever increasing number of cellular processes. To expand the repertoire of known sRNAs, we sought to identify novel sRNAs in the differentiating, multicellular bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor. We describe a combined bioinformatic and experimental approach that enabled the identification and characterization of nine novel sRNAs in S. coelicolor, including a cis-encoded antisense sRNA. We examined sRNA expression throughout the S. coelicolor developmental cycle, which progresses from vegetative mycelium formation, to aerial mycelium formation and finally sporulation. We further determined the effects of growth medium composition (rich versus minimal medium) on sRNA gene expression, and compared wild-type sRNA expression profiles with those of four developmental mutants. All but two of the sRNAs exhibited some degree of medium dependence, with three sRNAs being expressed exclusively during growth on one medium type. Unlike most sRNAs characterized thus far, several sRNA genes in S. coelicolor were expressed constitutively (apart from during late sporulation), suggesting a possible housekeeping role for these transcripts. Others were expressed at specific developmental stages, and their expression profiles were altered in response to developmental mutations. Expression of one sRNA in particular was dependent upon the sporulation-specific sigma factor σ^WhiG.

The complex development undergone by Streptomyces encompasses transitions from vegetative mycelial forms to reproductive aerial hyphae that differentiate into chains of single-celled spores. Whereas their mycelial life – connected with spore formation and antibiotic production – is deeply investigated, spore germination as the counterpoint in their life cycle has received much less attention. Still, germination represents a system of transformation from metabolic zero point to a new living lap. There are several aspects of germination that may attract our attention: 1. Dormant spores are strikingly well prepared for the future metabolic restart; they possess stable transcriptome, hydrolytic enzymes, chaperones, and other required macromolecules stabilized in a trehalose milieu; 2. Germination itself is a specific sequence of events leading to a complete morphological remodeling that include spore swelling, cell wall reconstruction, and eventually germ tube emergences; 3. Still not fully unveiled are the strategies that enable the process, including a single cell’s signal transduction and gene expression control, as well as intercellular communication and the probability of germination across the whole population. This review summarizes our current knowledge about the germination process in Streptomyces, while focusing on the aforementioned points.

The first systematic study of small non-coding RNAs (sRNA, ncRNA) in Streptomyces is presented. Except for a few exceptions, the Streptomyces sRNAs, as well as the sRNAs in other genera of the Actinomyces group, have remained unstudied. This study was based on sequence conservation in intergenic regions of Streptomyces, localization of transcription termination factors, and genomic arrangement of genes flanking the predicted sRNAs. Thirty-two potential sRNAs in Streptomyces were predicted. Of these, expression of 20 was detected by microarrays and RT-PCR. The prediction was validated by a structure based computational approach. Two predicted sRNAs were found to be terminated by transcription termination factors different from the Rho-independent terminators. One predicted sRNA was identified computationally with high probability as a Streptomyces 6S RNA. Out of the 32 predicted sRNAs, 24 were found to be structurally dissimilar from known sRNAs. Streptomyces is the largest genus of Actinomyces, whose sRNAs have not been studied. The Actinomyces is a group of bacterial species with unique genomes and phenotypes. Therefore, in Actinomyces, new unique bacterial sRNAs may be identified. The sequence and structural dissimilarity of the predicted Streptomyces sRNAs demonstrated by this study serve as the first evidence of the uniqueness of Actinomyces sRNAs.

HrdB in streptomycetes is a principal sigma factor whose deletion is lethal. This is also the reason why its regulon has not been investigated so far. To overcome experimental obstacles, for investigating the HrdB regulon, we constructed a strain whose HrdB protein was tagged by an HA epitope. ChIP-seq experiment, done in 3 repeats, identified 2137 protein-coding genes organized in 337 operons, 75 small RNAs, 62 tRNAs, 6 rRNAs and 3 miscellaneous RNAs. Subsequent kinetic modeling of regulation of protein-coding genes with HrdB alone and with a complex of HrdB and a transcriptional cofactor RbpA, using gene expression time series, identified 1694 genes that were under their direct control. When using the HrdB–RbpA complex in the model, an increase of the model fidelity was found for 322 genes. Functional analysis revealed that HrdB controls the majority of gene groups essential for the primary metabolism and the vegetative growth. Particularly, almost all ribosomal protein-coding genes were found in the HrdB regulon. Analysis of promoter binding sites revealed binding motif at the −10 region and suggested the possible role of mono- or di-nucleotides upstream of the −10 element.

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are regulatory molecules encoded in the intergenic or intragenic regions of the genome. In prokaryotes, biocomputational identification of homologs of known ncRNAs in other species often fails due to weakly evolutionarily conserved sequences, structures, synteny and genome localization, except in the case of evolutionarily closely related species. To eliminate results from weak conservation, we focused on RNA structure, which is the most conserved ncRNA property. Analysis of the structure of one of the few well-studied bacterial ncRNAs, 6S RNA, demonstrated that unlike optimal and consensus structures, suboptimal structures are capable of capturing RNA homology even in divergent bacterial species. A computational procedure for the identification of homologous ncRNAs using suboptimal structures was created. The suggested procedure was applied to strongly divergent bacterial species and was capable of identifying homologous ncRNAs.