Fungal Metabolism in Filamentous Fungi: 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

The research carried out for many years on fungal secondary metabolites (SMs) has been divided into two branches: fundamental and applied. On the one hand, this research has provided a better understanding of the physiological functions of SMs, which are still largely unknown, even if we know that some of them play a crucial role in the “well-being” of the producing organisms. On the other hand, in terms of benefits to humans, filamentous fungi represent a limitless source of bioactive metabolites which can find applications in therapeutics, as exemplified by the antibiotic drug penicillin.

The recent availability of genome sequences for an increasing number of fungi has led to rapid progress in the identification of dozens of biosynthesis gene clusters potentially involved in SM production. Moreover, metabolomic approaches based on high-resolution mass spectrometry have emerged as a convenient tool to efficiently explore SM production, which could be associated with an efficient molecular networking bioinformatic approach. However, it remains that only a limited number of SM pathways have been elucidated in fungi because most of the fungal BGCs are “silent” under standard culture conditions, and the putative related natural products are then not produced. A variety of interesting strategies have been successfully developed to broaden the spectrum of SM production, such as (i) the one strain–many compounds (OSMAC) and co-culture approaches, (ii) the deletion/overexpression of cluster-specific transcription factors or global regulators, and (iii) the modulation of BGC expression mediated by chromatin regulation. Overall, these different approaches are all the more effective if they can be combined in interdisciplinary and integrated approaches. Here, we aim to present the latest advances in the characterization of new fungal SMs, whether from a fundamental perspective for a better understanding of fungal biology, or from a more applied point of view with the identification of molecules of interest.

Dr. Florence Chapeland-Leclerc
Dr. Gwenaël Ruprich-Robert
Guest Editors

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• secondary metabolism
• filamentous fungi
• Biosynthesis Gene Cluster (BGC)
• natural products
• metabolism regulation
• metabolomics
• genomics
• bioactive compounds
• drug discovery

• Fungal Metabolism in Filamentous Fungi in Journal of Fungi (10 articles)