Streptomyces Bacteria: Specialized Metabolism, Inter-species Interations and Non-coding RNAs

Streptomyces bacteria are abundant in soil environments, where they have an unusual multicellular life cycle that involves filamentous growth and spore formation. They also produce an extraordinary range of compounds known as specialized metabolites, and it is through these compounds that they interact with many of their terrestrial neighbours. Specialized metabolite production is subject to a wide range of regulatory inputs, and it is predicted that non-coding RNAs are amongst the many regulators governing metabolic output. RNA-sequencing experiments have revealed many non-coding RNAs expressed within specialized metabolic clusters of diverse Streptomyces species, with antisense RNAs featuring prominently. Here, we highlight a number of specialized metabolites whose gene clusters contain known non-coding RNAs, and consider possible roles for these RNA regulators in influencing Streptomyces interactions with other organisms in the environment.