Abstract

Nocardia pathogenic strains are occasionally found to be resistant to many antibiotics but also have the ability to produce antibiotics, which involve a variety of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes. Nocardia farcinica IFM 10152 contains 27 CYPs, most of which clustered with ferredoxin, ferredoxin reductase or regulatory genes. These CYPs were designated to subfamilies in this study and their genome contexts were detected to predict the possible metabolic functions. In addition, three new subfamilies as well as a conservon clustered with CYPs were revealed. Phylogenetic analysis of CYPs from N. farcinica IFM 10152, together with those from Streptomyces coelicolorA3(2) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv were performed to demonstrate the evolution of N. farcinica CYPs. This comparative study will lead to a better understanding of various CYPs in N. farcinica and contribute to its future application in medicine.

Key words: Nocardia, genome, cytochrome P450, actinomycetes, evolution