Relationship between Secondary Metabolism and Fungal Development
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Filamentous fungi are unique organisms-rivaled only by actinomycetes and plants-in producing a wide range of natural products called secondary metabolites. These compounds are very diverse in structure and perform functions that are not always known. However, most secondary metabolites are produced after the fungus has completed its initial growth phase and is beginning a stage of development represented by the formation of spores. In this review, we describe secondary metabolites produced by fungi that act as sporogenic factors to influence fungal development, are required for spore viability, or are produced at a time in the life cycle that coincides with development. We describe environmental and genetic factors that can influence the production of secondary metabolites. In the case of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans, we review the only described work that genetically links the sporulation of this fungus to the production of the mycotoxin sterigmatocystin through a shared G-protein signaling pathway.Keywords:
Aspergillus nidulans
Sterigmatocystin
Secondary metabolism
Filamentous fungus
Aspergillus versicolor
Secondary metabolite
Aspergillus versicolor
Sterigmatocystin
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Filamentous fungi are unique organisms-rivaled only by actinomycetes and plants-in producing a wide range of natural products called secondary metabolites. These compounds are very diverse in structure and perform functions that are not always known. However, most secondary metabolites are produced after the fungus has completed its initial growth phase and is beginning a stage of development represented by the formation of spores. In this review, we describe secondary metabolites produced by fungi that act as sporogenic factors to influence fungal development, are required for spore viability, or are produced at a time in the life cycle that coincides with development. We describe environmental and genetic factors that can influence the production of secondary metabolites. In the case of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans, we review the only described work that genetically links the sporulation of this fungus to the production of the mycotoxin sterigmatocystin through a shared G-protein signaling pathway.
Aspergillus nidulans
Sterigmatocystin
Secondary metabolism
Filamentous fungus
Aspergillus versicolor
Secondary metabolite
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Aspergillus nidulans has functioned as a model system for the study of fungal genetics since the 1950s. Application of methodologies ranging from Mendelian genetics to the most sophisticated molecular biological techniques have resulted in a detailed understanding of genes and pathways involved in primary metabolism, secondary metabolism and development in A. nidulans. We have taken advantage of this background in developing A. nidulans as a genetic system to study the molecular mechanisms regulating aflatoxin biosynthesis. Aflatoxin, a carcinogenic polyketide, is the product of a lengthy biochemical pathway found in the asexual spp., A. flavus and A. parasiticus. A. nidulans possesses most if not all of this pathway and produces sterigmatocystin, the penultimate precursor of the aflatoxin pathway. We have identified a approximately 60 kb cluster of genes in A. nidulans whose products are involved in sterigmatocystin biosynthesis. This cluster contains at least 20 genes proposed to encode both enzymatic activities and regulatory proteins. Our results have shown that at least some of these genes are functionally conserved between A. nidulans, A. flavus and A. parasiticus, and that they are regulated in similar ways. Further studies of sterigmatocystin regulation in A. nidulans should yield information transferable to studies of (i) secondary metabolism in other filamentous fungi and (ii) aflatoxin regulation in A. flavus and A. parasiticus in particular.
Sterigmatocystin
Aspergillus nidulans
Aspergillus parasiticus
Secondary metabolism
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(1976). An Assay of Sterigmatocystin and Related Metabolites of Aspergillus versicolor by High Speed Liquid Chromatography. Agricultural and Biological Chemistry: Vol. 40, No. 10, pp. 2099-2100.
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Aspergillus versicolor
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Sterigmatocystin
Aspergillus versicolor
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Sterigmatocystin
Aspergillus versicolor
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Abstract Molecular networking approach was applied for the targeted isolation of new sterigmatocystin derivatives, sterigmatocystins A–C, from the marine sponge‐derived fungus Aspergillus versicolor . Sterigmatocystin A features a rare 6/6/6/6/5 polycyclic system. The structures of sterigmatocystins A–C, including absolute configurations, were determined on the basis of spectroscopic data and ECD calculations. Sterigmatocystin A showed more stronger promoting angiogenesis activity than the positive control at 1.25 μM level in transgenic fluorescent zebrafish. Sterigmatocystins A–C also exhibited moderate antiviral activity by the inhibition of HSV‐2.
Sterigmatocystin
Aspergillus versicolor
Isolation
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Sterigmatocystin
Aspergillus nidulans
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Fungal secondary metabolites are of intense interest to humankind due to their pharmaceutical (antibiotics) and/or toxic (mycotoxins) properties. In the past decade, tremendous progress has been made in understanding the genes that are associated with production of various fungal secondary metabolites. Moreover, the regulatory mechanisms controlling biosynthesis of diverse groups of secondary metabolites have been unveiled. In this review, we present the current understanding of the genetic regulation of secondary metabolism from clustering of biosynthetic genes to global regulators balancing growth, sporulation, and secondary metabolite production in selected fungi with emphasis on regulation of metabolites of agricultural concern. Particularly, the roles of G protein signaling components and developmental regulators in the mycotoxin sterigmatocystin biosynthesis in the model fungus Aspergillus nidulans are discussed in depth.
Secondary metabolism
Sterigmatocystin
Secondary metabolite
Aspergillus nidulans
Filamentous fungus
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In an area representative of a moderate climate zone (Lubuskie Province in Poland), mycological tests in over 270 flats demonstrated the occurrence of 82 species of moulds. Aspergillus versicolor Tiraboschi was often encountered on building partitions (frequency 4: frequently). The ability to synthesize the carcinogenic sterigmatocystin (ST) means that it poses a risk to humans and animals. Biotoxicological tests of biomasses of A. versicolor were conducted in the Microbiological and Toxicological Laboratory, using the planarians Dugesia tigrina (Girard). The obtained results of the tests covered a broad range of toxicity levels of isolated strains: from weakly toxic (100-1000 mg·L(-3)) to potently toxic (1-10 mg·L(-3)). The high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) physicochemical method confirmed the ability of A. versicolor strains to synthesize sterigmatocystin. All of the samples of the air-dry biomasses of the fungi contained ST in the range between 0.03 and 534.38 mg·kg(-1). In the bio-safety level (BSL) classification A. versicolor belongs to category 1. Additionally, A. versicolor is an allergenic mould.
Sterigmatocystin
Aspergillus versicolor
Environmental toxicology
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