Yabe K, Nakajima H
National Food Research Institute, Tsukuba, 305-8642 Ibaraki, Japan.
Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2004 Jun;64(6):745-55. doi: 10.1007/s00253-004-1566-x. Epub 2004 Mar 12.
Aflatoxins are highly toxic and carcinogenic substances mainly produced by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. Sterigmatocystin is a penultimate precursor of aflatoxins and also a toxic and carcinogenic substance produced by many species, including Aspergillus nidulans. Recently, the majority of the enzyme reactions involved in aflatoxin/sterigmatocystin biosynthesis have been clarified, and the genes encoding the enzymes have been isolated. Most of the genes constitute a large gene cluster in the fungal genome, and their expression is mostly regulated by a product of the regulatory gene aflR. This review will summarize the enzymatic steps and the genes in aflatoxin/sterigmatocystin biosynthesis.
黄曲霉毒素是主要由黄曲霉和寄生曲霉产生的剧毒和致癌物质。柄曲霉素是黄曲霉毒素的前体物质，也是包括构巢曲霉在内的许多菌种产生的一种有毒致癌物质。最近，黄曲霉毒素/柄曲霉素生物合成过程中涉及的大多数酶促反应已得到阐明，并且编码这些酶的基因也已被分离出来。大多数基因在真菌基因组中构成一个大的基因簇，它们的表达大多受调控基因aflR的产物调控。本综述将总结黄曲霉毒素/柄曲霉素生物合成中的酶促步骤和相关基因。
