2. Academic Validation
  3. Comprehensive chemotaxonomic and genomic profiling of a biosynthetically talented Australian fungus, Aspergillus burnettii sp. nov

Comprehensive chemotaxonomic and genomic profiling of a biosynthetically talented Australian fungus, Aspergillus burnettii sp. nov

  • Fungal Genet Biol. 2020 Oct;143:103435. doi: 10.1016/j.fgb.2020.103435.
Cameron L M Gilchrist 1,  Heather J Lacey 2,  Daniel Vuong 2,  John I Pitt 2,  Lene Lange 3,  Ernest Lacey 4,  Bo Pilgaard 5,  Yit-Heng Chooi 6,  Andrew M Piggott 7
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 School of Molecular Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
  • 2 Microbial Screening Technologies, Smithfield, NSW 2164, Australia.
  • 3 Center for Bioprocess Engineering, Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark; BioEconomy, Research & Advisory, Karensgade 5, 2500 Valby, Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • 4 Microbial Screening Technologies, Smithfield, NSW 2164, Australia; Department of Molecular Sciences, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia.
  • 5 Center for Bioprocess Engineering, Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
  • 6 School of Molecular Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 7 Department of Molecular Sciences, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 32702474 DOI: 10.1016/j.fgb.2020.103435
Abstract

Aspergillus burnettii is a new species belonging to the A. alliaceus clade in Aspergillus subgenus Circumdati section Flavi isolated from peanut-growing properties in southern Queensland, Australia. A. burnettii is a fast-growing, floccose fungus with distinctive brown conidia and is a talented producer of biomass-degrading enzymes and secondary metabolites. Chemical profiling of A. burnettii revealed the metabolites ochratoxin A, kotanins, isokotanins, asperlicin E, anominine and paspalinine, which are common to subgenus Circumdati, together with burnettiene A, burnettramic acids, burnettides, and high levels of 14α-hydroxypaspalinine and hirsutide. The genome of A. burnettii was sequenced and an annotated draft genome is presented. A. burnettii is rich in secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters, containing 51 polyketide synthases, 28 non-ribosomal peptide synthetases and 19 genes related to terpene biosynthesis. Functional annotation of digestive enzymes of A. burnettii and A. alliaceus revealed overlapping carbon utilisation profiles, consistent with a close phylogenetic relationship.

Keywords

Aspergillus; Biosynthetic gene cluster analysis; Carbohydrate active enzymes; Chemotaxonomy; Molecular phylogeny; Secondary metabolites.

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