Advances in targeting and heterologous expression of genes involved in the synthesis of fungal secondary metabolites

Abstract

The revolutionary discovery of penicillin only marks the start of our exploration for valuable fungal natural products. Advanced genome sequencing technologies have translated the fungal genome into a huge reservoir of "recipes" - biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) - for biosynthesis. Studying complex fungal genetics demands specific gene manipulation strategies. This review summarizes the current progress in efficient gene targeting in fungal cells and heterologous expression systems for expressing fungal BGCs of fungal secondary metabolites.

Fig. 1. Procedure of ATMT. (a) The T-DNA plasmid can be produced by recombinant E. coli. The plasmid is then transformed into Agrobacterium cells. Yellow: T-DNA borders. Red: gene of interest. (b) Acetosyringone induces expression of the vir genes which are located in the bacterial chromosome and in the helper plasmid. Pink: vir genes. (c) The vir genes direct the copy, gene transfer and incorporation of the T-DNA into the target cell.

Fig. 2. The recombinant biosynthetic pathway of festuclavine, agroclavine, and cycloclavine from l-tryptophan and DMAPP in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.