Characterization of Peptaibols Produced by a Marine Strain of the Fungus Trichoderma endophyticum via Mass Spectrometry, Genome Mining and Phylogeny-Based Prediction

Abstract

Trichoderma is recognized as a prolific producer of nonribosomal peptides (NRPs) known as peptaibols, which have remarkable biological properties, such as antimicrobial and anticancer activities, as well as the ability to promote systemic resistance in plants against pathogens. In this study, the sequencing of 11-, 14- and 15-res peptaibols produced by a marine strain of Trichoderma isolated from the ascidian Botrylloides giganteus was performed via liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Identification, based on multilocus phylogeny, revealed that our isolate belongs to the species T. endophyticum, which has never been reported in marine environments. Through genome sequencing and genome mining, 53 biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) were identified as being related to bioactive natural products, including two NRP-synthetases: one responsible for the biosynthesis of 11- and 14-res peptaibols, and another for the biosynthesis of 15-res. Substrate prediction, based on phylogeny of the adenylation domains in combination with molecular networking, permitted extensive annotation of the mass spectra related to two new series of 15-res peptaibols, which are referred to herein as “endophytins”. The analyses of synteny revealed that the origin of the 15-module peptaibol synthetase is related to 18, 19 and 20-module peptaibol synthetases, and suggests that the loss of modules may be a mechanism used by Trichoderma species for peptaibol diversification. This study demonstrates the importance of combining genome mining techniques, mass spectrometry analysis and molecular networks for the discovery of new natural products.

Uncovering the Effects of the Cultivation Condition on Different Forms of Peptaibol’s Emericellipsins Production from an Alkaliphilic Fungus, Emericellopsis alkalina

“…The results clearly support the previous conclusions of other researchers that optimized medium and culture conditions are the main control factors for the production of Paib compounds, as well as its various forms [4,12,14,[48][49][50][51]. We previously found that some emericellipsins produced by E. alkalina exhibited promising antimicrobial activity against a range of Gram-positive bacterial and fungal pathogens.…”

A Trichoderma brevicompactum strain isolated in Mexico inhibits the growth of phytopathogenic fungi

“…Siendo el pepino un histórico modelo vegetal para el estudio de la interacción planta-Trichoderma en donde se ha demostrado su crecimiento asociado a la planta y su capacidad de inducción de respuestas defensivas (Yedidia et al, 1999), a futuro se podrán plantear nuevos experimentos para verificar posible crecimiento endófito de 2IG2102 y las respuestas que en la planta se ejecutan por la presencia de 2IG2102. También hay que considerar que el acetato de etilo pudiera extraer otros sesquiterpenos y peptaiboles, estos últimos son péptidos no ribosomales, algunos de ellos tienen actividad antimicrobiana (Castro et al, 2023) y también pudiera contribuir en la inhibición.…”

Nature’s Antimicrobial Arsenal: Non-Ribosomal Peptides from PGPB for Plant Pathogen Biocontrol

“…This information helps identify the exact chemical structure of the NRP, as well as to determine its molecular weight and the presence of various functional groups [107]. Several types of MS techniques can be used for the analysis of NRPs, including matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI-TOF) MS [108], electrospray ionization (ESI) MS [109], and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) [110].…”