21176790
not annotated - annotated - LINNAEUS only
Characterization of a polyketide synthase in Aspergillus niger whose product is a precursor for both dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN) melanin and naphtho-gamma-pyrone.
The genome sequencing of the fungus Aspergillus niger uncovered a large cache of genes encoding enzymes thought to be involved in the production of secondary metabolites yet to be identified. Identification and structural characterization of many of these predicted secondary metabolites are hampered by their low concentration relative to the known A. niger metabolites such as the naphtho-gamma-pyrone family of polyketides. We deleted a non-reducing PKS gene in A. niger strain ATCC 11414, a daughter strain of A. niger ATCC strain 1015 whose genome was sequenced by the DOE Joint Genome Institute. This PKS encoding gene we name albA is a predicted ortholog of alb1 from Aspergillus fumigatus which is responsible for production of the naphtho-gamma-pyrone precursor for the 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN) melanin/spore pigment. Our results show that the A. nigeralbA PKS is responsible for both the production of the spore pigment precursor and a family of naphtho-gamma-pyrones commonly found in significant quantity in A. niger culture extracts. The generation of an A. niger strain devoid of naphtho-gamma-pyrones will greatly facilitate the elucidation of cryptic biosynthetic pathways in this organism.
Ann file
T1 Species 45 62 Aspergillus niger
N1 Reference T1 Taxonomy:5061
T2 Species 200 217 Aspergillus niger
N2 Reference T2 Taxonomy:5061
T3 Species 514 522 A. niger
N3 Reference T3 Taxonomy:5061
T4 Species 629 655 A. niger strain ATCC 11414
N4 Reference T4 Taxonomy:5061
T5 Species 678 703 A. niger ATCC strain 1015
N5 Reference T5 Taxonomy:5061
T6 Species 839 860 Aspergillus fumigatus
N6 Reference T6 Taxonomy:746128
T7 Species 1023 1035 A. nigeralbA
N7 Reference T7 Taxonomy:5061
T8 Species 1190 1198 A. niger
N8 Reference T8 Taxonomy:5061
T9 Species 1238 1246 A. niger
N9 Reference T9 Taxonomy:5061