Prodiginines are a family of red-pigmented secondary metabolites with multiple
biological activities. The biosynthesis of prodiginines is affected by various physiological and environmental factors. Thus,
prodiginine biosynthesis regulation is highly complex and multifaceted. Although the regulatory mechanism for
prodiginine biosynthesis has been extensively studied in Serratia and Streptomyces species, little is known about that in the marine betaproteobacterium Pseudoalteromonas In this study, we report that stringent
starvation protein A (SspA), an
RNA polymerase-associated regulatory
protein, is required for the biosynthesis of
prodiginine in Pseudoalteromonas sp. strain R3. The strain lacking sspA (ΔsspA) fails to produce
prodiginine, which resulted from the downregulation of the
prodiginine biosynthetic gene (pig) cluster. The effect of SspA on
prodiginine biosynthesis is independent of
histone-like nucleoid structuring
protein (H-NS) and RpoS (σS). Further analysis demonstrates that the ΔsspA strain has a significant decrease in the transcription of the
siderophore biosynthesis gene (pvd) cluster, leading to the inhibition of
siderophore production and
iron uptake. The ΔsspA strain regains the ability to synthesize
prodiginine by cocultivation with
siderophore producers or the addition of
iron. Therefore, we conclude that SspA-regulated
prodiginine biosynthesis is due to decreased
siderophore levels and
iron deficiency. We further show that the
iron homeostasis master regulator Fur is also essential for pig transcription and
prodiginine biosynthesis. Overall, our results suggest that SspA indirectly regulates the biosynthesis of
prodiginine, which is mediated by the
siderophore-dependent
iron uptake pathway.IMPORTANCE The red-pigmented prodiginines are attracting increasing interest due to their broad
biological activities. As with many secondary metabolites, the biosynthesis of prodiginines is regulated by both environmental and physiological factors. At present, studies on the regulation of
prodiginine biosynthesis are mainly restricted to Serratia and Streptomyces species. This work focused on the regulatory mechanism of
prodiginine biosynthesis in Pseudoalteromonas sp. R3. We found that stringent
starvation protein A (SspA) positively regulates
prodiginine biosynthesis via affecting the
siderophore-dependent
iron uptake pathway. The connections among SspA,
iron homeostasis, and
prodiginine biosynthesis were investigated. These findings uncover a novel regulatory mechanism for
prodigiosin biosynthesis.