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Functional Genomics of Toxigenic Fungi and Regulatory Mechanism in the Biosynthesis of Mycotoxins 2.0

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Toxicology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 10678

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Giancarlo Perrone

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CNR-ISPA (National Research Council-Institute of Sciences of Food Production), Via G. Amendola 122/O, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: food mycology; phylogeny; taxonomy; morphology; ecology and genomics of Aspergillus and Penicillium toxigenic species
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Antonia Gallo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Sciences of Food Production, National Research Council, Via Provinciale Lecce-Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Interests: fungal secondary metabolism; mycotoxins; molecular biology; genomics; transcriptomics; regulatory mechanisms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The occurrence of fungal species that can produce toxic metabolites in agro-food products has received increasing attention over the last few decades. These metabolites, known as mycotoxins, are generally of low molecular weight, may have toxic activity toward plants, and represent a serious risk for human and animal health. In the 1990s, fungal secondary metabolites (SMs), such as antibiotics and mycotoxins, started to be genetically characterized. In the pre-genomic era, the clustered arrangement of genes involved in the biosynthesis of a single SM was studied by means of cumbersome and traditional molecular methods. The breakthrough of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies and the advent of bioinformatics and genomics have revolutionized research on SM biosynthesis pathways. However, a great deal remains to be clarified in order to completely explain the pathway steps and the regulatory network behind metabolite biosynthesis. More recently, genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic tools, applied to fungal biology, have provided new data for understanding the ecology of toxigenic fungi, and the process of mycotoxin production and contamination under various environmental conditions. These current technologies of functional genomics have the potential to reveal the molecular mechanisms of response to climate change, as well as abiotic regulation of the secondary metabolites production and influence on the plant–fungus interactions.

This Special Issue will present the most recent data on the main aspects of functional genomics of toxigenic fungi and regulatory mechanisms in the biosynthesis of mycotoxins, with the aim of better understanding the eco-physiology of mycotoxin production.

Dr. Giancarlo Perrone
Dr. Antonia Gallo
Guest Editors

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • mycotoxigenic fungi
  • secondary metabolites
  • fungal genomics
  • fungal transcriptomics
  • fungal metabolomics
  • biosynthesis gene cluster
  • regulatory pathway
  • transcription factors
  • stress induction
  • signal transduction

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 1861 KiB  
Article
Study on the bZIP-Type Transcription Factors NapA and RsmA in the Regulation of Intracellular Reactive Species Levels and Sterigmatocystin Production of Aspergillus nidulans
by Bernadett Bákány, Wen-Bing Yin, Beatrix Dienes, Tibor Nagy, Éva Leiter, Tamás Emri, Nancy P. Keller and István Pócsi
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(21), 11577; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms222111577 - 27 Oct 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2831
Abstract
Basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors play a crucial role in the environmental stress response of eukaryotes. In this work, we studied the effect of gene manipulations, including both deletions and overexpressions, of two selected bZIP transcription factors, NapA and RsmA, in the [...] Read more.
Basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors play a crucial role in the environmental stress response of eukaryotes. In this work, we studied the effect of gene manipulations, including both deletions and overexpressions, of two selected bZIP transcription factors, NapA and RsmA, in the oxidative stress response and sterigmatocystin production of Aspergillus nidulans. We found that NapA was important in the oxidative stress response by negatively regulating intracellular reactive species production and positively regulating catalase activities, whereas RsmA slightly negatively regulated catalase activities. Concerning sterigmatocystin production, the highest concentration was measured in the ΔrsmAΔnapA double deletion mutant, but elevated sterigmatocystin production was also found in the OErsmA OEnapA strain. Our results indicate that NapA influences sterigmatocystin production via regulating reactive species level whereas RsmA modulates toxin production independently of the redox regulation of the cells. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Genomics of Toxigenic Fungi and Regulatory Mechanism in the Biosynthesis of Mycotoxins 2.0)
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Review

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24 pages, 924 KiB  
Review
Antifungal Peptides and Proteins to Control Toxigenic Fungi and Mycotoxin Biosynthesis
by Pedro V. Martínez-Culebras, Mónica Gandía, Sandra Garrigues, Jose F. Marcos and Paloma Manzanares
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(24), 13261; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms222413261 - 9 Dec 2021
Cited by 32 | Viewed by 4954
Abstract
The global challenge to prevent fungal spoilage and mycotoxin contamination on food and feed requires the development of new antifungal strategies. Antimicrobial peptides and proteins (AMPs) with antifungal activity are gaining much interest as natural antifungal compounds due to their properties such as [...] Read more.
The global challenge to prevent fungal spoilage and mycotoxin contamination on food and feed requires the development of new antifungal strategies. Antimicrobial peptides and proteins (AMPs) with antifungal activity are gaining much interest as natural antifungal compounds due to their properties such as structure diversity and function, antifungal spectrum, mechanism of action, high stability and the availability of biotechnological production methods. Given their multistep mode of action, the development of fungal resistance to AMPs is presumed to be slow or delayed compared to conventional fungicides. Interestingly, AMPs also accomplish important biological functions other than antifungal activity, including anti-mycotoxin biosynthesis activity, which opens novel aspects for their future use in agriculture and food industry to fight mycotoxin contamination. AMPs can reach intracellular targets and exert their activity by mechanisms other than membrane permeabilization. The mechanisms through which AMPs affect mycotoxin production are varied and complex, ranging from oxidative stress to specific inhibition of enzymatic components of mycotoxin biosynthetic pathways. This review presents natural and synthetic antifungal AMPs from different origins which are effective against mycotoxin-producing fungi, and aims at summarizing current knowledge concerning their additional effects on mycotoxin biosynthesis. Antifungal AMPs properties and mechanisms of action are also discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Genomics of Toxigenic Fungi and Regulatory Mechanism in the Biosynthesis of Mycotoxins 2.0)
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12 pages, 1120 KiB  
Review
Current Approaches for Advancement in Understanding the Molecular Mechanisms of Mycotoxin Biosynthesis
by Antonia Gallo and Giancarlo Perrone
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(15), 7878; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22157878 - 23 Jul 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2168
Abstract
Filamentous fungi are able to synthesise a remarkable range of secondary metabolites, which play various key roles in the interaction between fungi and the rest of the biosphere, determining their ecological fitness. Many of them can have a beneficial activity to be exploited, [...] Read more.
Filamentous fungi are able to synthesise a remarkable range of secondary metabolites, which play various key roles in the interaction between fungi and the rest of the biosphere, determining their ecological fitness. Many of them can have a beneficial activity to be exploited, as well as negative impact on human and animal health, as in the case of mycotoxins contaminating large quantities of food, feed, and agricultural products worldwide and posing serious health and economic risks. The elucidation of the molecular aspects of mycotoxin biosynthesis has been greatly sped up over the past decade due to the advent of next-generation sequencing technologies, which greatly reduced the cost of genome sequencing and related omic analyses. Here, we briefly highlight the recent progress in the use and integration of omic approaches for the study of mycotoxins biosynthesis. Particular attention has been paid to genomics and transcriptomic approaches for the identification and characterisation of biosynthetic gene clusters of mycotoxins and the understanding of the regulatory pathways activated in response to physiological and environmental factors leading to their production. The latest innovations in genome-editing technology have also provided a more powerful tool for the complete explanation of regulatory and biosynthesis pathways. Finally, we address the crucial issue of the interpretation of the combined omics data on the biology of the mycotoxigenic fungi. They are rapidly expanding and require the development of resources for more efficient integration, as well as the completeness and the availability of intertwined data for the research community. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Genomics of Toxigenic Fungi and Regulatory Mechanism in the Biosynthesis of Mycotoxins 2.0)
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