Biosynthesis of Fusarubins Accounts for Pigmentation of Fusarium fujikuroi Perithecia
Open Access
- 15 June 2012
- journal article
- Published by American Society for Microbiology in Applied and Environmental Microbiology
- Vol. 78 (12), 4468-4480
- https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.00823-12
Abstract
Fusarium fujikuroi produces a variety of secondary metabolites, of which polyketides form the most diverse group. Among these are the highly pigmented naphthoquinones, which have been shown to possess different functional properties for the fungus. A group of naphthoquinones, polyketides related to fusarubin, were identified in Fusarium spp. more than 60 years ago, but neither the genes responsible for their formation nor their biological function has been discovered to date. In addition, although it is known that the sexual fruiting bodies in which the progeny of the fungus develops are darkly colored by a polyketide synthase (PKS)-derived pigment, the structure of this pigment has never been elucidated. Here we present data that link the fusarubin-type polyketides to a defined gene cluster, which we designate fsr , and demonstrate that the fusarubins are the pigments responsible for the coloration of the perithecia. We studied their regulation and the function of the single genes within the cluster by a combination of gene replacements and overexpression of the PKS-encoding gene, and we present a model for the biosynthetic pathway of the fusarubins based on these data.Keywords
This publication has 78 references indexed in Scilit:
- Regulation of secondary metabolism by chromatin structure and epigenetic codesFungal Genetics and Biology, 2011
- Fungal secondary metabolites – Strategies to activate silent gene clustersFungal Genetics and Biology, 2011
- Secondary metabolism in fungi: does chromosomal location matter?Current Opinion in Microbiology, 2010
- Unraveling polyketide synthesis in members of the genus AspergillusApplied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2010
- Comparative genomics reveals mobile pathogenicity chromosomes in FusariumNature, 2010
- Structural basis for biosynthetic programming of fungal aromatic polyketide cyclizationNature, 2009
- A Gene Cluster Containing Two Fungal Polyketide Synthases Encodes the Biosynthetic Pathway for a Polyketide, Asperfuranone, in Aspergillus nidulansJournal of the American Chemical Society, 2009
- Medium- and short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase gene and protein familiesCellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 2008
- Starter unit specificity directs genome mining of polyketide synthase pathways in fungiBioorganic Chemistry, 2008
- Multifunctional yeast high-copy-number shuttle vectorsGene, 1992