Gardiner Donald M, Howlett Barbara J
School of Botany, The University of Melbourne, Vic. 3010, Australia.
FEMS Microbiol Lett. 2005 Jul 15;248(2):241-8. doi: 10.1016/j.femsle.2005.05.046.
Gliotoxin is a secondary metabolite produced by several fungi including the opportunistic animal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. It is a member of the epipolythiodioxopiperazine (ETP) class of toxins characterised by a disulphide bridged cyclic dipeptide. A putative cluster of 12 genes involved in gliotoxin biosynthesis has been identified in A. fumigatus by a comparative genomics approach based on homology to genes from the sirodesmin (another ETP) biosynthetic gene cluster of Leptosphaeria maculans. The physical limits of the cluster in A. fumigatus have been defined by bioinformatics and by identifying the genes that are co-regulated and whose timing of expression correlates with the production of gliotoxin in culture.
Gliotoxin是由包括机会性动物病原体烟曲霉在内的几种真菌产生的次生代谢产物。它是环多硫二氧哌嗪（ETP）类毒素的成员，其特征是具有二硫键桥连的环状二肽。通过基于与大斑壳针孢（Leptosphaeria maculans）的西罗地辛（另一种ETP）生物合成基因簇中的基因同源性的比较基因组学方法，在烟曲霉中鉴定出了一个涉及Gliotoxin生物合成的12个基因的假定簇。烟曲霉中该簇的物理界限已通过生物信息学以及通过鉴定共调控且其表达时间与培养物中Gliotoxin产生相关的基因来确定。
