Biotechnology Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing, 100081, People's Republic of China.
Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing, 100081, People's Republic of China.
World J Microbiol Biotechnol. 2024 Sep 18;40(10):323. doi: 10.1007/s11274-024-04134-4.
The important role of dihydroxynaphthalene-(DHN) melanin in enhancing fungal stress resistance and its importance in fungal development and pathogenicity are well-established. This melanin also aids biocontrol fungi in surviving in the environment and effectively infecting insects. However, the biosynthetic origin of melanin in the biocontrol agents, Metarhizium spp., has remained elusive due to the complexity resulting from the divergence of two DHN-like biosynthetic pathways. Through the heterologous expression of biosynthetic enzymes from these two pathways in baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we have confirmed the presence of DHN biosynthesis in M. roberstii, and discovered a novel naphthopyrone intermediate, 8, that can produce a different type of pigment. These two pigment biosynthetic pathways differ in terms of polyketide intermediate structures and subsequent modification steps. Stress resistance studies using recombinant yeast cells have demonstrated that both DHN and its intermediates confer resistance against UV light prior to polymerization; a similar result was observed for its naphthopyrone counterpart. This study contributes to the understanding of the intricate and diverse biosynthetic mechanisms of fungal melanin and has the potential to enhance the application efficiency of biocontrol fungi such as Metarhizium spp. in agriculture.
二羟基萘(DHN)黑色素在增强真菌抗逆性方面的重要作用及其在真菌发育和致病性方面的重要性已得到充分证实。这种黑色素还有助于生防真菌在环境中存活并有效地感染昆虫。然而,由于两种 DHN 样生物合成途径的分歧导致的复杂性,生防菌 Metarhizium spp. 中黑色素的生物合成起源仍然难以捉摸。通过在酿酒酵母 Saccharomyces cerevisiae 中异源表达这两种途径的生物合成酶,我们已经证实了 M. roberstii 中 DHN 的生物合成,并发现了一种新的萘并吡喃酮中间体 8,它可以产生不同类型的色素。这两种色素生物合成途径在聚酮中间体制结构和后续修饰步骤上有所不同。使用重组酵母细胞进行的抗逆性研究表明,DHN 及其中间体在聚合前都能抵抗紫外线;其萘并吡喃酮对应物也观察到了类似的结果。本研究有助于理解真菌黑色素复杂多样的生物合成机制,并有可能提高生防真菌如 Metarhizium spp. 在农业中的应用效率。