Deletion of bZIP Transcription Factor Reveals Specialized Metabolites Potentially Regulating Stress Response in .

Fungal secondary metabolism (SM) is highly correlated with physiological processes that are typically regulated by pleiotropic regulators. In this study, we purposefully altered , a crucial regulator associated with oxidative stress in CGMCC 3.1066. After the knockout of , a novel polyketide (PK) raistrilide A () and the known nonribosomal peptide (NRP) tunicoidine () subsequently disappeared. Notably, compound is a rare octaketone derivative and contains two unsubstituted -double bonds, demonstrating its unique biosynthetic mechanism. The knockout of resulted in the disappearance of - and greatly increased the susceptibility of Δ mutant strain to oxidative stress, rendering it nearly impossible to survive in such environments. At present, the strain showed no phenotypic or oxidative stress sensitivity differences compared to the wild-type strain. Our findings highlight that the oxidative-stress-related transcription factor (TF) influences SM pathways in . . The manipulation of regulatory factors can guide the discovery of novel natural products (NPs).