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ARS Home » Midwest Area » St. Paul, Minnesota » Cereal Disease Lab » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #312830
Title: Cellular compartmentalization of secondary metabolism

Author
item Kistler, Harold
item Broz, Karen

Submitted to: Frontiers in Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/2015
Publication Date: 2/1/2015
Citation: Kistler, H.C., Broz, K.L. 2015. Cellular compartmentalization of secondary metabolism. Frontiers in Microbiology. 6(68):1-11.

Interpretive Summary: Certain fungi may infest contaminated food products with harmful metabolites called mycotoxins. These toxins are important risks to human health and their presence in the food supply is controlled by FDA. Our previous studies have been directed toward understanding how these toxins are produced in grain in order to derive measures where toxin accumulation is minimized. This review summarizes studies on the synthesis of three fungal metabolites: the harmful mycotoxins aflatoxin and vomitoxin and the useful fungal metabolite penicillin. The article reviews what is known about where in the cell the fungal metabolites are produced and how this relates to the process of synthesis and delivery of the toxin to the environment. This study concludes that mycotoxin synthesis requires complex developmental events. This information will be helpful to plant improvement specialists who are working to develop plants resistant to these toxins or for developing novel strategies to emeliorate the effects of these toxins.

Technical Abstract: Fungal secondary metabolism is often considered apart from the essential housekeeping functions of the cell. However, there are clear links between fundamental cellular metabolism and the biochemical pathways leading to secondary metabolite synthesis. Besides utilizing key biochemical precursors shared with the most essential processes of the cell (e.g. amino acids, acetyl CoA, NADPH), enzymes for secondary metabolite synthesis are compartmentalized at conserved subcellular sites that position pathway enzymes to use these common biochemical precursors. Co-compartmentalization of secondary metabolism pathway enzymes also may function to channel precursors, promote pathway efficiency and sequester pathway intermediates and products from the rest of the cell. In this review we discuss the compartmentalization of three well-studied fungal secondary metabolite biosynthetic pathways and summarize evidence used to infer subcellular localization. We also discuss how these metabolites potentially are trafficked within the cell and may be exported.