Culture-based and sequence-based insights into biosynthesis of secondary metabolites by Aspergillus terreus ATCC 20542.

Aspergillus terreus ATCC 20542 was cultivated in various culture media in order to activate its genome-encoded biosynthetic pathways and explore the secondary metabolic repertoire. In addition to mevinolinic acid (lovastatin) and its precursor monacolin L, a number of other secondary metabolites were found in the analyzed cultures, namely terreic acid, citrinin, (+)-geodin, terrein, and dehydrocurvularin. In contrast to previously described gene clusters responsible for production of lovastatin, monacolin L, (+)-geodin and dehydrocurvularin, the gene clusters of A. terreus associated with the formation of terreic acid, citrinin and terrein still await identification. Putative gene clusters potentially related to citrinin and terreic acid biosynthesis were suggested in the publicly available genome of A. terreus NIH 2624. The functions of putative genes in the previously identified cluster of (+)-geodin biosynthesis were predicted by confronting the annotation results with the proposed biosynthetic pathway and published biochemical studies on the underlying enzymes. Since there were no available data regarding genetic aspects of terrein biosynthesis, the candidate gene cluster potentially responsible for the production of terrein was not suggested.