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Abstract
Streptomyces are filamentous, multi-cellular soil bacteria that undergo a complicated life cycle of differentation and secondary metabolite production. However, little is known about how these pathways function in the organizm. We sought to isolate new mutants in these processes in two species: S. coelicolor and S. venezuelae. This was accomplished through the use of intergeneric conjugation, in vitro transposition, and co-transformation. Through these methods we were able to identify 5 morphological mutants, 3 of which were caused by transposon insertion into a previously uncharacterized genes. Based on sequence analysis, putative functions of these gene products are: an integral membrane protein and tetR-family transcriptional regulator. We have not yet obtained sequence data for the third mutant gene.