<jats:title>Summary</jats:title><jats:p><jats:styled-content style="fixed-case"><jats:italic>S</jats:italic></jats:styled-content><jats:italic>treptomyces albus</jats:italic> <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">J</jats:styled-content>1074 is a streptomycete strain widely used as a host for expression of secondary metabolite gene clusters. Bioinformatic analysis of the genome of this organism predicts the presence of 27 gene clusters for secondary metabolites. We have used three different strategies for the activation of some of these silent/cryptic gene clusters in <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case"><jats:italic>S</jats:italic></jats:styled-content><jats:italic>. albus</jats:italic> <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">J</jats:styled-content>1074: two hybrid polyketide‐non‐ribosomal peptides (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PK‐NRP</jats:styled-content>) (antimycin and 6‐<jats:italic>epi</jats:italic>‐alteramides), a type <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">I PK</jats:styled-content> (candicidin), a non‐ribosomal peptides (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">NRP</jats:styled-content>) (indigoidine) and glycosylated compounds (paulomycins). By insertion of a strong and constitutive promoter in front of selected genes of two clusters, production of the blue pigment indigoidine and of two novel members of the polycyclic tetramate macrolactam family (6‐<jats:italic>epi</jats:italic>‐alteramides <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content> and <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">B</jats:styled-content>) was activated. Overexpression of positive regulatory genes from the same organism also activated the biosynthesis of 6‐<jats:italic>epi</jats:italic>‐alteramides and heterologous expression of the regulatory gene <jats:italic>pim</jats:italic><jats:styled-content style="fixed-case"><jats:italic>M</jats:italic></jats:styled-content> of the pimaricin cluster activated the simultaneous production of candicidins and antimycins, suggesting some kind of cross‐regulation between both clusters. A cluster for glycosylated compounds (paulomycins) was also identified by comparison of the high‐performance liquid chromatography profiles of the wild‐type strain with that of a mutant in which two key enzymes of the cluster were simultaneously deleted.