Biosynthetic studies of secondary metabolites produced by Penicillium brasilianum

• Grant number: 14/03510-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: June 01, 2014
• End date: April 28, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Organic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Edson Rodrigues Filho
• Grantee: Taicia Pacheco Fill
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Biosynthesis of microbial natural products has been attracting great interest in the scientific community and genetic studies of microorganisms seem to represent the reality of current researches involving biosynthesis of microbial natural products. The genome of the fungus Penicillium brasilianum was recently sequenced and final assembly revealed 252 supercontigs, which underwent gene predictions and automatic annotation. Functional analysis of the genome revealed 69 possible biosynthetic clusters being 11 of them related to polyketide biosynthesis via Type I PKS; 12 different clusters involved in the production of secondary metabolites formed via the NRPS enzymes; and six hybrids biosynthetic clusters, including the hybrid NRPS - terpene responsible for the biosynthesis of ergot alkaloids, indicating the great potential of this organism to produce bioactive secondary metabolites. The project aims the completion of the P. brasilianum genome annotation and manual curation due to its promising biotechnological potential, and further genetic studies in order to determine a transformation system and successful gene deletion studies targeting biosynthetic gene clusters found in this fungus. In particular, the obtaining of a mutant in the absence of PAL (phenylalanine ammonialyase) gene would help us to understand the formation of brasiliamides by P. brasilianum derived from phenylpropanoids with high similarity to the phenylpropanoids produced by plants. Our aims are to understand and exploit the genetic potential of this fungus for the production of important substances, and contribute to elucidate the biosintese of this fungal phenylpropanoid family.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

TAÍCIA PACHECO FILL; HELOISA FASSINA PALLINI; LUCIANA DA SILVA AMARAL; JOSÉ VINICIUS DA SILVA; DANIELLE LAZARIN BIDÓIA; FRANCIELI PERON; FRANCIELLE PELEGRIN GARCIA; CELSO VATARU NAKAMURA; EDSON RODRIGUES-FILHO. Copper and Manganese Cations Alter Secondary Metabolism in the Fungus Penicillium brasilianum. Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society, v. 27, n. 8, p. 1444-1451, 2016-08-00. (14/03510-2)