Genome mining combined metabolic shunting and OSMAC strategy of an endophytic fungus leads to the production of diverse natural products

Endophytic fungi are promising producers of bioactive small molecules. Bioinformatic analysis of the genome of an endophytic fungus

A study of the low-frequency CLU gene variant affecting the susceptibility to late-onset Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective To explore the potential genetic variants related with late-onset Alzheimer's disease(LOAD),and to broaden the AD genetic susceptibility factor profile.Methods We targetedly sequenced four lipids metabolism related genes including apolipoprotein E(APOE),sortilin-related receptor gene (SORL 1),apolipoprotein C-I (APOC1) and clusterin (CLU),validated these candidate variants in patients with LOAD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI)and the controls with normal cognitive function,and made a bioinformatic analysis.Results The mutation in the allele of CLU rs117389184,a low-frequency single nucleotide polymorphism,would increase the risk of LOAD and MCI[OR (95 ％ CI):3.56 (1.08-4.84),P =0.026;OR (95 ％ CI):3.06 (0.98-4.03),P =0.026],suggesting CLU rs117389184 gene variant was associated with cognitive impairment.This variation could affect CLU gene expression by interfering with the binding of transcription factors.Conclusions CLU rs117389184 is a new genetic risk variant for LOAD and MCI.

Activation of an unconventional meroterpenoid gene cluster in leads to the production of new berkeleyacetals

Fungal genomes carry many gene clusters seemingly capable of natural products biosynthesis, yet most clusters remain cryptic or down-regulated. Genome mining revealed an unconventional paraherquonin-like meroterpenoid biosynthetic gene cluster in the chromosome of . The cryptic or down-regulated pathway was activated by constitutive expression of pathway-specific regulator gene encoded within biosynthetic gene cluster. Chemical analysis of mutant -OE: extracts enabled the isolation of four berkeleyacetal congeners, in which two of them are new. On the basis of careful bioinformatic analysis of the coding enzymes in the gene cluster, the biosynthetic pathway of berkeleyacetals was proposed. These results indicate that this approach would be valuable for discovery of novel natural products and will accelerate the exploitation of prodigious natural products in filamentous fungi.

Epigenetic modification in histone deacetylase deletion strain of leads to diverse diterpenoids

Epigenetic modifications have been proved to be a powerful way to activate silent gene clusters and lead to diverse secondary metabolites in fungi. Previously, inactivation of a histone H3 deacetylase in had led to pleiotropic activation and overexpression of more than 75% of the biosynthetic genes and isolation of ten compounds. Further investigation of the crude extract of strain resulted in the isolation of twelve new diterpenoids including three cassanes (-), one cleistanthane (), six pimaranes (-), and two isopimaranes ( and ) along with two know cleistanthane analogues. Their structures were elucidated by extensive NMR spectroscopic data analysis. Compounds and showed potent inhibitory effects on the expression of MMP1 and MMP2 (matrix metalloproteinases family) in human breast cancer (MCF-7) cells.