The Gram-positive soil bacteria streptomycetes are an important source of diverse antibiotics and other natural products. The production of these secondary metabolites is temporally and genetically coordinated with a complex developmental life cycle involving growth as vegetative mycelium and dispersion via spores.

The aim of the proposed work is to analyse and characterise in molecular detail the roles of c-di-AMP in S. venezuelae. We will determine how c-di-AMP contributes to differentiation and stress survival strategies employed by Streptomyces spp. and plan a detailed analysis of an up to now uncharacterised cyclic di-nucleotide in these bacteria.