Hou Xuwen, Liu Liyao, Xu Dan, Lai Daowan, Zhou Ligang
MOA Key Lab of Pest Monitoring and Green Management, Department of Plant Pathology, College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
J Fungi (Basel). 2024 Aug 8;10(8):561. doi: 10.3390/jof10080561.
Fungi are rich sources of secondary metabolites of agrochemical, pharmaceutical, and food importance, such as mycotoxins, antibiotics, and antitumor agents. Secondary metabolites play vital roles in fungal pathogenesis, growth and development, oxidative status modulation, and adaptation/resistance to various environmental stresses. LaeA contains an -adenosylmethionine binding site and displays methyltransferase activity. The members of velvet proteins include VeA, VelB, VelC, VelD and VosA for each member with a velvet domain. LaeA and velvet proteins can form multimeric complexes such as VosA-VelB and VelB-VeA-LaeA. They belong to global regulators and are mainly impacted by light. One of their most important functions is to regulate gene expressions that are responsible for secondary metabolite biosynthesis. The aim of this mini-review is to represent the newest cognition of the biosynthetic regulation of mycotoxins and other fungal secondary metabolites by LaeA and velvet proteins. In most cases, LaeA and velvet proteins positively regulate production of fungal secondary metabolites. The regulated fungal species mainly belong to the toxigenic fungi from the genera of , , , , , , and for the production of mycotoxins. We can control secondary metabolite production to inhibit the production of harmful mycotoxins while promoting the production of useful metabolites by global regulation of LaeA and velvet proteins in fungi. Furthermore, the regulation by LaeA and velvet proteins should be a practical strategy in activating silent biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in fungi to obtain previously undiscovered metabolites.
真菌是农业化学、制药和食品领域中具有重要意义的次生代谢产物的丰富来源，如霉菌毒素、抗生素和抗肿瘤剂。次生代谢产物在真菌致病、生长发育、氧化状态调节以及对各种环境胁迫的适应/抗性中发挥着至关重要的作用。LaeA含有一个S-腺苷甲硫氨酸结合位点并具有甲基转移酶活性。天鹅绒蛋白成员包括VeA、VelB、VelC、VelD以及每个成员都具有一个天鹅绒结构域的VosA。LaeA和天鹅绒蛋白可以形成多聚体复合物，如VosA-VelB和VelB-VeA-LaeA。它们属于全局调节因子，主要受光的影响。它们最重要的功能之一是调节负责次生代谢产物生物合成的基因表达。本综述的目的是介绍关于LaeA和天鹅绒蛋白对霉菌毒素和其他真菌次生代谢产物生物合成调控的最新认识。在大多数情况下，LaeA和天鹅绒蛋白正向调节真菌次生代谢产物的产生。受调控的真菌物种主要属于产生霉菌毒素的产毒真菌，如曲霉属、青霉属、镰刀菌属、麦角菌属、链格孢属、葡萄孢属和木霉属。我们可以通过全局调控真菌中的LaeA和天鹅绒蛋白来控制次生代谢产物的产生，从而抑制有害霉菌毒素的产生，同时促进有用代谢产物的产生。此外，LaeA和天鹅绒蛋白的调控应该是激活真菌中沉默生物合成基因簇（BGCs）以获得以前未发现的代谢产物的一种实用策略。
