Cloning and heterologous expression of a natural product biosynthetic gene cluster from eDNA.

[reaction: see text] To study the natural products produced by uncultured microorganisms, an environmental DNA (eDNA) cosmid library was constructed and screened for the heterologous production of small molecules. A blue clone, CSL51, found in the eDNA library produces deoxyviolacein and the broad spectrum antibiotic violacein. The full sequence of the 6.7 kb eDNA violacein gene cluster and the characterization of violacein and deoxyviolacein from an eDNA clone are reported here.