Whole-Genome Shotgun Sequencing of Two β-Proteobacterial Species in Search of the Bulgecin Biosynthetic Cluster.

We have produced draft whole-genome sequences for two bacterial strains reported to produce the bulgecins as well as NRPS-derived monobactam β-lactam antibiotics. We propose classification of ATCC 31363 as Paraburkholderia acidophila. We further reaffirm that ATCC 31433 (Burkholderia ubonensis subsp. mesacidophila) is a taxonomically distinct producer of bulgecins with notable gene regions shared with Paraburkholderia acidophila. We use RAST multiple-gene comparison and MASH distancing with published genomes to order the draft contigs and identify unique gene regions for characterization. Forty-eight natural-product gene clusters are presented from PATRIC (RASTtk) and antiSMASH annotations. We present evidence that the 10 genes that follow the sulfazecin and isosulfazecin pathways in both species are likely involved in bulgecin A biosynthesis.