Heteroexpression of in Marine-Derived Fungi Triggers Upregulation of Secondary Metabolite Biosynthetic Genes.

Fungi are a prospective resource of bioactive compounds, but conventional methods of drug discovery are not effective enough to fully explore their metabolic potential. This study aimed to develop an easily attainable method to elicit the metabolic potential of fungi using as a transcription regulation tool. In this study, functional analysis of (AnLaeA) and sp. Z5 (Az5LaeA) was done in the fungus sp. Z5. Heterologous AnLaeA-and native Az5LaeA-overexpression exhibited similar phenotypic effects and caused an increase in production of a bioactive compound diorcinol in sp. Z5, which proved the conserved function of this global regulator. In particular, heteroexpression of AnLaeA showed a significant impact on the expression of velvet complex genes, diorcinol synthesis-related genes, and different transcription factors (TFs). Moreover, heteroexpression of AnLaeA influenced the whole genome gene expression of sp. Z5 and triggered the upregulation of many genes. Overall, these findings suggest that heteroexpression of AnLaeA in fungi serves as a simple and easy method to explore their metabolic potential. In relation to this, AnLaeA was overexpressed in the fungus sp. LC1-4, which resulted in increased production of quinolactacin A.