Plant-like biosynthesis of isoquinoline alkaloids in Aspergillus fumigatus

Nat Chem Biol. 2016 Jun;12(6):419-24. doi: 10.1038/nchembio.2061. Epub 2016 Apr 11.

Abstract

Natural product discovery efforts have focused primarily on microbial biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) containing large multimodular polyketide synthases and nonribosomal peptide synthetases; however, sequencing of fungal genomes has revealed a vast number of BGCs containing smaller NRPS-like genes of unknown biosynthetic function. Using comparative metabolomics, we show that a BGC in the human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus named fsq, which contains an NRPS-like gene lacking a condensation domain, produces several new isoquinoline alkaloids known as the fumisoquins. These compounds derive from carbon-carbon bond formation between two amino acid-derived moieties followed by a sequence that is directly analogous to isoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis in plants. Fumisoquin biosynthesis requires the N-methyltransferase FsqC and the FAD-dependent oxidase FsqB, which represent functional analogs of coclaurine N-methyltransferase and berberine bridge enzyme in plants. Our results show that BGCs containing incomplete NRPS modules may reveal new biosynthetic paradigms and suggest that plant-like isoquinoline biosynthesis occurs in diverse fungi.

MeSH terms

  • Alkaloids / biosynthesis*
  • Alkaloids / chemistry
  • Aspergillus fumigatus / genetics*
  • Aspergillus fumigatus / metabolism*
  • Biosynthetic Pathways* / genetics
  • Isoquinolines / chemistry
  • Isoquinolines / metabolism*
  • Metabolomics
  • Molecular Structure
  • Multigene Family
  • Plants / genetics
  • Plants / metabolism*

Substances

  • Alkaloids
  • Isoquinolines
  • isoquinoline

Associated data

  • PubChem-Substance/312531288
  • PubChem-Substance/312531289
  • PubChem-Substance/312531290
  • PubChem-Substance/312531291
  • PubChem-Substance/312531292
  • PubChem-Substance/312531293
  • PubChem-Substance/312531294
  • PubChem-Substance/312531295
  • PubChem-Substance/312531296
  • PubChem-Substance/312531297
  • PubChem-Substance/312531298
  • PubChem-Substance/312531299
  • PubChem-Substance/312531300
  • PubChem-Substance/312531301
  • PubChem-Substance/312531302