A scalable platform to identify fungal secondary metabolites and their gene clusters

Kenneth D. Clevenger, Jin Woo Bok, Rosa Ye, Galen P. Miley, Maria H. Verdan, Thomas Velk, Cynthia Chen, Ka Houa Yang, Matthew T. Robey, Peng Gao, Matthew Lamprecht, Paul M. Thomas, Md Nurul Islam, Jonathan M. Palmer, Chengcang C. Wu*, Nancy P. Keller, Neil L. Kelleher

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

143 Scopus citations

Abstract

The genomes of filamentous fungi contain up to 90 biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) encoding diverse secondary metabolites - an enormous reservoir of untapped chemical potential. However, the recalcitrant genetics, cryptic expression, and unculturability of these fungi prevent scientists from systematically exploiting these gene clusters and harvesting their products. As heterologous expression of fungal BGCs is largely limited to the expression of single or partial clusters, we established a scalable process for the expression of large numbers of full-length gene clusters, called FAC-MS. Using fungal artificial chromosomes (FACs) and metabolomic scoring (MS), we screened 56 secondary metabolite BGCs from diverse fungal species for expression in Aspergillus nidulans. We discovered 15 new metabolites and assigned them with confidence to their BGCs. Using the FAC-MS platform, we extensively characterized a new macrolactone, valactamide A, and its hybrid nonribosomal peptide synthetase-polyketide synthase (NRPS-PKS). The ability to regularize access to fungal secondary metabolites at an unprecedented scale stands to revitalize drug discovery platforms with renewable sources of natural products.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)895-901
Number of pages7
JournalNature Chemical Biology
Volume13
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2017

Funding

This work was supported in part by the US National Institutes of Health (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases SBIR award in the form of grant R44AI094885 to C.C.W., J.W.B., and N.L.K.; grant R01AT009143 to N.L.K.; grant R01-AI065728 to N.P.K.; grant 5T32GM105538-04 to G.P.M.). NMR instrumentation and assistance was provided by the Integrated Molecular Structure Education and Research Center (IMSERC) at Northwestern University.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

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