Bioinformatic Analysis of Secondary Metabolite Biosynthetic Potential in Pathogenic Fusarium

Abstract

Fusarium species are among the filamentous fungi with the most pronounced impact on agricultural production and human health. The mycotoxins produced by pathogenic Fusarium not only attack various plants including crops, causing various plant diseases that lead to reduced yields and even death, but also penetrate into the food chain of humans and animals to cause food poisoning and consequent health hazards. Although sporadic studies have revealed some of the biosynthetic pathways of Fusarium toxins, they are insufficient to satisfy the need for a comprehensive understanding of Fusarium toxin production. In this study, we focused on 35 serious pathogenic Fusarium species with available genomes and systematically analyzed the ubiquity of the distribution of identified Fusarium- and non-Fusarium-derived fungal toxin biosynthesis gene clusters (BGCs) in these species through the mining of core genes and the comparative analysis of corresponding BGCs. Additionally, novel sesterterpene synthases and PKS_NRPS clusters were discovered and analyzed. This work is the first to systematically analyze the distribution of related mycotoxin biosynthesis in pathogenic Fusarium species. These findings enhance the knowledge of mycotoxin production and provide a theoretical grounding for the prevention of fungal toxin production using biotechnological approaches.

Non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS)-encoding products and their biosynthetic logics in Fusarium

“…Fungal NRPS-encoding products are a prolific source of bioactive compounds, some of which have been commercially used as therapeutic agents, such as cyclosporin A, echinocandins and emodepsides [ 2 , 3 ]. As one of the most common filamentous fungi in nature, Fusarium is well-known for its potential of production of NRPS products with a wide array of biological properties [ 4 – 6 ]. With a substantial increase in fungal genome sequences and the incremental optimization of software tools (e.g., anti-SMASH, NCBI, UniProt), bioinformatic analysis of the link between secondary metabolites (SMs) and their biosynthetic gene cluster (BGCs) has become simple and efficient [ 7 – 9 ].…”

“…With a substantial increase in fungal genome sequences and the incremental optimization of software tools (e.g., anti-SMASH, NCBI, UniProt), bioinformatic analysis of the link between secondary metabolites (SMs) and their biosynthetic gene cluster (BGCs) has become simple and efficient [ 7 – 9 ]. A growing number of Fusarium -derived NRPS products and their BGCs have been isolated and characterized [ 6 , 10 , 11 ]. However, the biosynthetic pathways of these SMs have not been well unveiled till now.…”