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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #307730
Title: Discovering the secondary metabolite potential encoded within Entomopathogenic Fungi

Author
item Gibson, Donna
item DONZELLI, B.G.G. - Cornell University
item Krasnoff, Stuart
item KEYHANI, N. - University Of Florida

Submitted to: Natural Product Reports
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/15/2014
Publication Date: 9/11/2014
Citation: Gibson, D.M., Donzelli, B., Krasnoff, S., Keyhani, N. 2014. Discovering the secondary metabolite potential encoded within Entomopathogenic Fungi. Natural Product Reports. 31:1287-1305.

Interpretive Summary: Insect pathogenic fungi are a rich source of novel small molecular weight compounds known as secondary metabolites. Recent genomic analyses with the insect pathogens Metarhizium and Beauveria indicate that over 80% of the putative secondary metabolite-associated genes have no identified specific products and have sequences that are unique to this group of organisms. In a comparative study of sequenced fungi, secondary metabolite core clusters are better represented in the genomes of insect pathogenic species than in genomes of fungi that are plant or animal pathogens. A large scale genetic analysis was conducted on these biosynthetic clusters in order to identify potential patterns and relationships to other described clusters and make predictions on four such gene clusters. Also included is an analysis of several biotransformations that are known to be mediated by this group of fungi.

Technical Abstract: This article discusses the secondary metabolite potential of the insect pathogens Metarhizium and Beauveria, including a bioinformatics analysis of secondary metabolite genes for which no products are yet identified.