Types of polyketide synthase-terpenoid synthase (PKS-TPS) hybrid metabolites, including arthrosporols with significant morphological regulatory activity, have been elucidated from nematode-trapping fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora. A previous study suggested that the gene cluster AOL_s00215 in A. oligospora was involved in the production of arthrosporols. Here, we report that disruption of one cytochrome P450 monooxygenase gene AOL_s00215g280 in the cluster resulted in significant phenotypic difference and much aerial hyphae. A further bioassay indicated that the mutant showed a dramatic decrease in the conidial formation but developed numerous traps and killed 85% nematodes within 6 h in contact with prey, in sharp contrast to the wild-type strain with no obvious response. Chemical investigation revealed huge accumulation of three new PKS-TPS epoxycyclohexone derivatives with different oxygenated patterns around the epoxycyclohexone moiety and the absence of arthrosporols in the cultural broth of the mutant ΔAOL_s00215g280. These findings suggested that a study on the biosynthetic pathway for morphological regulatory metabolites in nematode-trapping fungus would provide an efficient way to develop new fungal biocontrol agents.

The wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivar Yangzhou 158 was used as a reference. The wheat root exudates were collected using a hydroponic mode. The changes of the electrolytes, H+, sugar, organic acids, amino acids, and secondary metabolites in wheat root exudates induced by aluminum (Al) were studied. The research results show that Al stress affects wheat root exudation. The secreted electrolytes and sugar increase with the increasing of the external Al3+ concentration. The total amount of secreted amino acids has a specific correlation with the external Al3+ concentration. At first, the amino acids secrete normally, but when Al3+ concentration is over 10 mg.L-1, the amino acid constitution varies obviously. Under Al stress, some original secondary metabolites disappear gradually, and other new secondary metabolites release simultaneously. Increasing the external Al3+ concentration gradually stimulates the exudation of organic acids. The organic acid levels in the wheat root zone increase in response to Al treatments. Active Al ions are accumulated in wheat roots. This Al-dependent variation in wheat root exudates suggests a specific Al-induced response of the wheat.

Kinetics on the structured catalysts exhibited strong dependency on a fluid flow characteristic (e.g., Re number). The results can guide the design of structured catalytic packing in the applications of the reaction distillation (RD) process.

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Thermomyces lanuginosus and Scytalidium thermophilum are among the most ubiquitous thermophilic fungi in compost and soil. Chemical study on these two prevalent strains collected from Yunnan led to isolation of 23 metabolites, including one new metabolite, therlanubutanolide, and 15 known compounds, isolated from the YGP culture broth of Thermomyces lanuginosus and 7 known compounds isolated from Scytalidium thermophilum, respectively. Therlanubutanolide shared the quite similar features of the same carbon skeleton and saturation as natural hexadecanoic acids. This was the first reported discovery of such a lactone as natural occurring metabolite. All the compounds were reported for the first time from thermophilic fungi. Among them, N-[(2S,3R,4E,8E)-1,3-dihydroxy-9-methyloctadeca-4,8-dien-2-yl]acetamide was for the first time reported to be a naturally occurring metabolite and its NMR data was first provided in this study. A type of PKS-derived metabolites, three 3,4-dihydronaphthalen-1(2H)-ones, which were widely found in plant pathogenic fungi as phytotoxins and reported to have antimicrobial activity, were obtained from both dominant thermophilic fungi. The frequent occurrence of such PKS phytotoxins in these two thermophilic fungi might suggest particular ecological interest.

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