Loss of Gibberellin Production in Fusarium verticillioides ( Gibberella fujikuroi MP-A) Is Due to a Deletion in the Gibberellic Acid Gene Cluster

Abstract

Fusarium verticillioides (Gibberella fujikuroi mating population A [MP-A]) is a widespread pathogen on maize and is well-known for producing fumonisins, mycotoxins that cause severe disease in animals and humans. The species is a member of the Gibberella fujikuroi species complex, which consists of at least 11 different biological species, termed MP-A to -K. All members of this species complex are known to produce a variety of secondary metabolites. The production of gibberellins (GAs), a group of diterpenoid plant hormones, is mainly restricted to Fusarium fujikuroi (G. fujikuroi MP-C) and Fusarium konzum (MP-I), although most members of the G. fujikuroi species complex contain the GA biosynthesis gene cluster or parts of it. In this work, we show that the inability to produce GAs in F. verticillioides (MP-A) is due to the loss of a majority of the GA gene cluster as found in F. fujikuroi. The remaining part of the cluster consists of the full-length F. verticillioides des gene (Fvdes), encoding the GA 4 desaturase, and the coding region of FvP450-4, encoding the ent-kaurene oxidase.

Deciphering the Cryptic Genome: Genome-wide Analyses of the Rice Pathogen Fusarium fujikuroi Reveal Complex Regulation of Secondary Metabolism and Novel Metabolites

“…As in previous experiments with F. verticillioides [66], transformants of F. oxysporum 4287 with the F. fujikuroi GA cluster produced GAs at levels similar to those produced by F. fujikuroi IMI58289 (Table S5B). …”

“…However, production of GAs has only been detected in isolates of F. sacchari , F. konzum and F. proliferatum [64], [65]. In addition, the cluster is absent in the more distantly related species F. graminearum and F. solani [66]. Here, analysis of genome sequences revealed that homologues of the entire F. fujikuroi GA cluster are present in F. circinatum , F. mangiferae , and five isolates of F. oxysporum (Figure 4).…”

FfVel1 and FfLae1, components of a velvet‐like complex in Fusarium fujikuroi, affect differentiation, secondary metabolism and virulence

“…Consistent with findings in other fungi, we found 11 secondary metabolite genes exclusively downregulated at 120 h. These include Fffum1 and Fffum2 , encoding a polyketide synthase and P450 monooxygenase respectively, required for fumonisin production (Proctor et al ., 2003) and des , required for GA synthesis (Tudzynski et al ., 2003). des is the only gene of the F. fujikuroi GA cluster present in F. verticillioides (Bömke et al ., 2008) (Table S1).…”

Identification and engineering of the cytochalasin gene cluster from Aspergillus clavatus NRRL 1

“…CcsD exhibits similarity to GliF from A. fumigatus (42 % protein identity) that possibly catalyzes the formation of an arene oxide in gliotoxin biosynthesis (Gardiner and Howlett, 2005); hence, CcsD may be responsible for the epoxidation of the C6-C7 double bond. The closest characterized homolog of CcsG is GA-P450-4 (39% identity) from Gibberella moniliformis , which is an ent -kaurene oxidase that catalyzes the multiple oxidations of ent -kaurene to ent -kaurenoic acid (Bomke et al, 2008). This hints that CcsG may be responsible for the successive oxidative modifications at C17 and C18.…”