Fungal biosynthesis of the bibenzoquinone oosporein to evade insect immunity.

ABSTRACT: Quinones are widely distributed in nature and exhibit diverse biological or pharmacological activities; however, their biosynthetic machineries are largely unknown. The bibenzoquinone oosporein was first identified from the ascomycete insect pathogen Beauveria bassiana>50 y ago. The toxin can also be produced by different plant pathogenic and endophytic fungi with an array of biological activities. Here, we report the oosporein biosynthetic machinery in fungi, a polyketide synthase (PKS) pathway including seven genes for quinone biosynthesis. The PKS oosporein synthase 1 (OpS1) produces orsellinic acid that is hydroxylated to benzenetriol by the hydroxylase OpS4. The intermediate is oxidized either nonenzymatically to 5,5'-dideoxy-oosporein or enzymatically to benzenetetrol by the putative

SUBMITTER: Feng P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4568701 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature