Fusarium Secondary Metabolism
Biosynthetic Pathways: So Close but So
Far Away
10
Łukasz Stępień, Justyna Lalak-Kańczugowska, Natalia Witaszak,
and Monika Urbaniak
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
2 Fusarium: Clades and Species . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
3 Ecological Niches: From Saprotrophs to Human Pathogens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
4 Phylogeny and New Species Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
5 Secondary Metabolism Biosynthetic Pathways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 217
5.1 Mycotoxins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
5.2 Pigments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
5.3 Antimicrobials and Hormones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
6 Population and Chemotype Shifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Abstract
Fusarium species are casual filamentous fungi, including opportunistic pathogens
infecting plants worldwide, but also able to grow as saprotrophs in a range
of climatic zones. The genus is extremely variable in terms of genetics, biology,
ecology, and, consequently, secondary metabolism, which directly relates
to ecological conditions and niches occupied by individual species. Fungal
secondary metabolites are the main “weapon” of the pathogenic species before,
during, and after the infection process, allowing for the communication
with the organism that is being attacked. Many of secondary metabolites are
common for diverse fungal microorganisms, and their mode of action is similar
for various plant-pathogen systems. Fusaria are able to produce a range of quite
specific metabolites, some of which have yet unknown biological functions.
Ł. Stępień (*) · J. Lalak-Kańczugowska · N. Witaszak · M. Urbaniak
Department of Pathogen Genetics and Plant Resistance, Institute of Plant Genetics, Polish Academy
of Sciences, Poznań, Poland
e-mail: lste@igr.poznan.pl; jlal@igr.poznan.pl; nwit@igr.poznan.pl; murb@igr.poznan.pl
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
J.-M. Mérillon, K. G. Ramawat (eds.), Co-Evolution of Secondary Metabolites,
Reference Series in Phytochemistry, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96397-6_28
211
Biosynthetic Pathways: So Close but So
Far Away
10
Łukasz Stępień, Justyna Lalak-Kańczugowska, Natalia Witaszak,
and Monika Urbaniak
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
2 Fusarium: Clades and Species . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
3 Ecological Niches: From Saprotrophs to Human Pathogens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
4 Phylogeny and New Species Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
5 Secondary Metabolism Biosynthetic Pathways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 217
5.1 Mycotoxins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
5.2 Pigments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
5.3 Antimicrobials and Hormones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
6 Population and Chemotype Shifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Abstract
Fusarium species are casual filamentous fungi, including opportunistic pathogens
infecting plants worldwide, but also able to grow as saprotrophs in a range
of climatic zones. The genus is extremely variable in terms of genetics, biology,
ecology, and, consequently, secondary metabolism, which directly relates
to ecological conditions and niches occupied by individual species. Fungal
secondary metabolites are the main “weapon” of the pathogenic species before,
during, and after the infection process, allowing for the communication
with the organism that is being attacked. Many of secondary metabolites are
common for diverse fungal microorganisms, and their mode of action is similar
for various plant-pathogen systems. Fusaria are able to produce a range of quite
specific metabolites, some of which have yet unknown biological functions.
Ł. Stępień (*) · J. Lalak-Kańczugowska · N. Witaszak · M. Urbaniak
Department of Pathogen Genetics and Plant Resistance, Institute of Plant Genetics, Polish Academy
of Sciences, Poznań, Poland
e-mail: lste@igr.poznan.pl; jlal@igr.poznan.pl; nwit@igr.poznan.pl; murb@igr.poznan.pl
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
J.-M. Mérillon, K. G. Ramawat (eds.), Co-Evolution of Secondary Metabolites,
Reference Series in Phytochemistry, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96397-6_28
211