Morphogenesis-Associated/Dissociated Production of Epothilone in Wild Sorangium Cellulosum Strains

To investigate the characters of Sorangium strains and the approaches for improving the production of epothilone, correlation of epothilone production and morphogenesis was studied in strains So0157-2, So0007-3 and So0003-3. On lean medium, So0157-2 could produce epothilones in a wide pH range (5.0-12.0), but formed fruiting bodies at high pH values (9.0-14.0). Formation of fruiting body did not affect the yield of epothilones in So0157-2. In So0007-3 and So0003-3, producing of epothilone was strongly coupled with the process of morphogenesis. It suggests that reduction of the association between morphogenesis and epothilone producing would prominently improve the epothilone production.