Secondary Metabolites Produced by the Blue-Cheese Ripening Mold Penicillium roqueforti; Biosynthesis and Regulation Mechanisms

Filamentous fungi are an important source of natural products. The mold Penicillium roqueforti, which is well-known for being responsible for the characteristic texture, blue-green spots, and aroma of the so-called blue-veined cheeses (French Bleu, Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Stilton, Cabrales, and Valdeón, among others), is able to synthesize different secondary metabolites, including andrastins and mycophenolic acid, as well as several mycotoxins, such as Roquefortines C and D, PR-toxin and eremofortins, Isofumigaclavines A and B, festuclavine, and Annullatins D and F. This review provides a detailed description of the biosynthetic gene clusters and pathways of the main secondary metabolites produced by P. roqueforti, as well as an overview of the regulatory mechanisms controlling secondary metabolism in this filamentous fungus.

Deletion of the Histone Deacetylase HdaA in Endophytic Fungus Penicillium chrysogenum Fes1701 Induces the Complex Response of Multiple Bioactive Secondary Metabolite Production and Relevant Gene Cluster Expression

Epigenetic regulation plays a critical role in controlling fungal secondary metabolism. Here, we report the pleiotropic effects of the epigenetic regulator HdaA (histone deacetylase) on secondary metabolite production and the associated biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) expression in the plant endophytic fungus Penicillium chrysogenum Fes1701. Deletion of the hdaA gene in strain Fes1701 induced a significant change of the secondary metabolite profile with the emergence of the bioactive indole alkaloid meleagrin. Simultaneously, more meleagrin/roquefortine-related compounds and less chrysogine were synthesized in the ΔhdaA strain. Transcriptional analysis of relevant gene clusters in ΔhdaA and wild strains indicated that disruption of hdaA had different effects on the expression levels of two BGCs: the meleagrin/roquefortine BGC was upregulated, while the chrysogine BGC was downregulated. Interestingly, transcriptional analysis demonstrated that different functional genes in the same BGC had different responses to the disruption of hdaA. Thereinto, the roqO gene, which encodes a key catalyzing enzyme in meleagrin biosynthesis, showed the highest upregulation in the ΔhdaA strain (84.8-fold). To our knowledge, this is the first report of the upregulation of HdaA inactivation on meleagrin/roquefortine alkaloid production in the endophytic fungus P. chrysogenum. Our results suggest that genetic manipulation based on the epigenetic regulator HdaA is an important strategy for regulating the productions of secondary metabolites and expanding bioactive natural product resources in endophytic fungi.

Modeling Growth and Toxin Production of Toxigenic Fungi Signaled in Cheese under Different Temperature and Water Activity Regimes

The aim of this study was to investigate in vitro and model the effect of temperature (T) and water activity (aw) conditions on growth and toxin production by some toxigenic fungi signaled in cheese. Aspergillus versicolor, Penicillium camemberti, P. citrinum, P. crustosum, P. nalgiovense, P. nordicum, P. roqueforti, P. verrucosum were considered they were grown under different T (0-40 °C) and aw (0.78-0.99) regimes. The highest relative growth occurred around 25 °C; all the fungi were very susceptible to aw and 0.99 was optimal for almost all species (except for A. versicolor, awopt = 0.96). The highest toxin production occurred between 15 and 25 °C and 0.96-0.99 aw. Therefore, during grana cheese ripening, managed between 15 and 22 °C, ochratoxin A (OTA), penitrem A (PA), roquefortine-C (ROQ-C) and mycophenolic acid (MPA) are apparently at the highest production risk. Bete and logistic function described fungal growth under different T and aw regimes well, respectively. Bete function described also STC, PA, ROQ-C and OTA production as well as function of T. These models would be very useful as starting point to develop a mechanistic model to predict fungal growth and toxin production during cheese ripening and to help advising the most proper setting of environmental factors to minimize the contamination risk.

Quinone/hydroquinone meroterpenoids with antitubercular and cytotoxic activities produced by the sponge-derived fungus Gliomastix sp. ZSDS1-F7

Fifteen compounds, including six quinone/hydroquinone meroterpenoids, purpurogemutantin (1), macrophorin A (2), 4'-oxomacrophorin (3), 7-deacetoxyyanuthone A (4), 2,3-hydro-deacetoxyyanuthone A (5), 22-deacetylyanuthone A (6), anicequol (7), three roquefortine derivatives, roquefortine C (8), (16S)-hydroxyroquefortine C (9), (16R)-hydroxyroquefortine C (10), dihydroresorcylide (11), nectriapyrone (12), together with three fatty acid derivatives, methyl linoleate (13), phospholipase A₂ (14), methyl elaidate (15), were isolated from the sponge-derived fungus Gliomastix sp. ZSDS1-F7 isolated from the sponge Phakellia fusca Thiele collected in the Yongxing island of Xisha. Their structures were elucidated mainly by extensive NMR spectroscopic and mass spectrometric analyses. Among these compounds, compounds 1-3 and 5-7 showed significant in vitro cytotoxicities against the K562, MCF-7, Hela, DU145, U937, H1975, SGC-7901, A549, MOLT-4 and HL60 cell lines, with IC₅₀ values ranging from 0.19 to 35.4 μM. And compounds 2-4 exhibited antitubercular activity with IC₅₀ values of 22.1, 2.44 and 17.5 μM, respectively. Furthermore, compound 7 had anti-enterovirus 71 activity with MIC value of 17.8 μM. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to product two quinone/hydroquinone meroterpenoids skeletons (linear skeleton and drimane skeleton) from the same fungal strain.