Lichen Biosynthetic Gene Clusters. Part I. Genome Sequencing Reveals a Rich Biosynthetic Potential

J Nat Prod. 2018 Apr 27;81(4):723-731. doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.7b00769. Epub 2018 Feb 27.

Abstract

Lichens are symbionts of fungi and algae that produce diverse secondary metabolites with useful properties. Little is known of lichen natural product biosynthesis because of the challenges of working with lichenizing fungi. We describe the first attempt to comprehensively profile the genetic secondary metabolome of a lichenizing fungus. An Illumina platform combined with the Antibiotics and Secondary Metabolites Analysis Shell (FungiSMASH, version 4.0) was used to sequence and annotate assembled contigs of the fungal partner of Cladonia uncialis. Up to 48 putative gene clusters are described comprising type I and type III polyketide synthases (PKS), nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS), hybrid PKS-NRPS, and terpene synthases. The number of gene clusters revealed by this work dwarfs the number of known secondary metabolites from C. uncialis, suggesting that lichenizing fungi have an unexplored biosynthetic potential.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Ascomycota / genetics
  • Biological Products / metabolism
  • Genome, Plant / genetics*
  • Lichens / genetics*
  • Lichens / microbiology
  • Metabolome / genetics
  • Multigene Family / genetics*
  • Peptide Synthases / genetics
  • Polyketide Synthases / genetics
  • Whole Genome Sequencing / methods

Substances

  • Biological Products
  • Polyketide Synthases
  • Peptide Synthases
  • non-ribosomal peptide synthase