Suhad AA Al-Salihi and Fabrizio Alberti

Fungi represents a rich repository of taxonomically restricted, yet chemically diverse, secondary metabolites that are synthesised via specific metabolic pathways. An enzyme’s specificity and biosynthetic gene clustering are the bottleneck of secondary metabolite evolution. Trichoderma harzianum M10 v1.0 produces many pharmaceutically important molecules; however, their specific biosynthetic pathways remain uncharacterised. Our genomic-based analysis of this species reveals the biosynthetic diversity of its specialised secondary metabolites, where over 50 BGCs were predicted, most of which were listed as polyketide-like compounds associated clusters. Revealing the biogenetic background of these natural molecules is a step forward towards the expansion of their chemical diversification via engineering their biosynthetic genes heterologously, and the identification of their role in the interaction between this fungus and its biotic/abiotic conditions as well as its role as bio-fungicide. 

Journal of Fungi. August 2023