Sequencing analysis of a 5-kb DNA fragment from Streptomyces venezuelae ATCC 15439 revealed the presence of one 3.1-kb open reading frame(ORF), designated as afsR-sv. The deduced product of afsR-sv(1,056 aa) was found to have high homology with the global regulatory protein AfsR. Homology-based analysis showed that aftR-sv represents a transcriptional activator belonging to the Streptomyces antibiotic regulatory protein(SARP) family that includes an N-terminal SARP domain containing a bacterial transcriptional activation domain(BTAD), an NB-ARC domain, and a C-terminal tetratricopeptide repeat domain. Gene expression analysis by reverse transcriptase PCR(RT-PCR) demonstrated the activation of transcription of genes belonging to pikromycin production, when aftR-sv was overexpressed in S. venezuelae. Heterologous expression of the aftR-sv in different Streptomyces strains resulted in increased production of the respective antibiotics, suggesting that afsR-sv is a positive regulator of antibiotics biosynthesis.